The Willows At Howell

Doug12

I visited The Willows at Howell and toured the nursing home. It was a fairly new facility and in excellent shape. I would recommend it. It was just very pricey compared to anywhere else, probably 25% to 30% more costly. It was $14,000 to $15,000 a month for 24-hour nursing care. They have very limited Medicaid beds and choose their existing residents over the newcomers on them, so it would probably be a 4-year wait. As far as the facility goes, that was the number one facility we looked at. I dealt with the salespeople and they were very good and informative. They were very truthful, too. They painted what I perceive to be the correct picture of the facility. We didn't go with them because of the cost, more than anything else. They have very high-end amenities. At dinner, they had salad bars and 2 or 3 dining areas. They had low beds and their rooms were spacious. It's more spacious than what we were used to, as far as Medicaid beds go. They seem to be well-staffed from my tour standpoint because I saw a lot of the staff. They had extensive recreation areas, and I would say that the place was immaculate.

Candy

The Willows at Howell seemed nice, but to me they were kind of on the expensive side. Their clients come in once they sell their property and they have a lump sum. Once they know they're getting low they start the paperwork, and then when the paperwork is done they slide them right into the Medicaid side. The lady that we talked to said chances of getting my mom in there are slim to none unless we can do private pay and then get her on to Medicaid, and we can't afford private pay. The lady during the tour was nice. The hallway that we went down, I think it was the Medicaid, reminded me more of like a hospital. There were two beds, and there was a curtain in between. They had their own TV. You didn't smell urine and it was very clean. We only interacted with two staff members. The lady that toured us around was polite, but maybe we just didn't click, or when she realized that we were looking for Medicaid, it's like her interest just wasn't there. The few staff that we walked by were associating with people there and they seemed really nice, very formative, and very helpful. They had a very comforting voice. Everything was clean. The floors weren't dirty or anything like that. Everything was well labeled, like the restroom, the laundry room, do not enter. Everything was very organized.

Marty

My cousin is in The Willows at Howell for rehab. It is a very nice facility. They had a rehabilitation program that was suitable for my cousin. The staff, sometimes it was hard to get a hold of them. They don't answer the phone sometimes. The facility is very clean. I was able to see the rooms. My cousin said the food was good and she enjoyed it. She didn't participate in many of the activities, she just did the rehabilitation part of it. For the value, it was very good. They met my expectations.