HarborChase of Rock Hill

I’m sharing our experience with HarborChase of Rock Hill, South Carolina. My father was a memory care resident from December 2022 through February 2023. Choosing a community for your loved one living with a debilitating illness like Alzheimer’s is incredibly difficult. My family chose HarborCh...

I’m sharing our experience with HarborChase of Rock Hill, South Carolina. My father was a memory care resident from December 2022 through February 2023. Choosing a community for your loved one living with a debilitating illness like Alzheimer’s is incredibly difficult. My family chose HarborChase because they led us to believe they had the experience, competency, and compassion to care for memory care patients at all stages, including those in later stages of Alzheimer's, like my father. Unfortunately, that was not our experience. After moving my father in, our family visited him frequently. We noticed that he was often in dirty clothes or clothes that didn’t belong to him; we labeled all of his clothes upon his move-in, per HarborChase policy, so this was surprising. We routinely confirmed the bathing and hygiene schedule, because it did not appear that he was bathed regularly or that his teeth were regularly brushed. During one visited, his entire mouth was stained black because he had found and chewed on a black marker while unattended for a period of time. There was urine on his bathroom floor on more than one occasion, and his bathroom soap dispenser was empty for the first couple of weeks after he moved in. In addition to the incidents above, the medical team repeatedly messed up his medications. We spoke directly to the medical director each time this happened, and despite our repeated concerns, the errors continued. Alzheimer’s, especially in later stages, is known to cause behavior changes. HarborChase alleged that my father became “combative” as a result of the disease progression and repeatedly sent him to the emergency room. However, my family did not witness this behavior, and neither did the external hospital staff, hospice care, or other healthcare workers who treated him. When we shared our HarborChase experience with them, they were surprised that a memory care facility was unable to manage his care based on the behaviors they saw. They also expressed surprise at the amount and frequency of the injuries he experienced onsite. My father repeatedly suffered head injuries at HarborChase that sent him to the hospital. Hospital and medical staff expressed surprise that one patient had so many injuries in such a short amount of time. Our family understood that 24/7 supervision of all residents was unrealistic, but none of the HarborChase staff or management ever seemed to witness these injuries. After one of the last head injuries in his room at HarborChase, my family found bloody bed sheets on his bed nearly a week after the incident occurred; he had been sleeping on those sheets for days. While the staff generally seemed kind, they constantly appeared to be stressed and overworked. We believe this contributed to the issues my father/we experienced. When we shared our concerns with HarborChase of Rock Hill management, they were consistently condescending and dismissive. The executive director was especially difficult during these conversations. She raised her voice several times during discussions about my father’s care, at one point causing a family member to break down into tears. Following that exchange, the executive director called my mother to complain that she herself was the one who had been mistreated. Working in this environment cannot be easy, but we were appalled that this is the type of behavior that HarborChase considers leadership. Our experience with HarborChase of Rock Hill was worse than we could have imagined. The lack of care shown to my father was disheartening, and the lack of compassion from the management team made this very sad and challenging time even worse. On a tour of the community prior to my father’s move-in, a member of the management team member said that they would rather be allowed to wander off in the woods than be placed in memory care. We wanted to believe this was a poorly considered and insensitive joke, but looking back, this should have been a warning about the attitude of management and level of care provided at HarborChase of Rock Hill.

Found the people very friendly, caring and cordial. Facilities were well managed and in great shape. Staff brought their A game every day we visited our parents. Strongly recommend them for long term care if you can afford the cost.

Wonderful staff,very attentive staff,great kitchen staff,Everyone patient and caring,& there food is awesome.

Love the residents, families and all the associates.