Lake Forest Nursing Center

2÷4÷2016
Upon my very first visit to Lake Forest Nursing Center, I noticed an unattended elderly man in a wheelchair rolling across the front grass area in the parking lot. I was concerned for him and approached. He said his name was Norman and he was looking to get to Los Angeles. I had to laugh but I noticed he was about to roll off of a curb, which would have resulted in a disastrous headfirst tumble for him. I grabbed his chair and tried to get him back up the the slight incline. He was insistent about going forward. I held him there until finally, some staff members came to our aid and were able to lift him over the curb to a safe place. I hate to think what might have happened if I hadn’t been there to stop him and call for assistance.
This was a representation of the level of care and supervision at LFN. My mother spent several months there getting physical therapy but never improved. When they told us her time was up they neglected to inform that she would need a MEMORY care facility. So we unknowingly wasted a lot of time looking at assisted living facilities that were not a match for her needs. Then they tried to bill us her stay for the extra time it took to find her an appropriate facility!
Lake Forest Nursing itself is old and in need of a major facelift. The staff at LFN can be slow to return calls and are sometimes hard to understand. It took over a week for me to get a return call from Executive Director Rosie Velasco and that was only after I contacted their national corporate office to complain.
LFN is part of a huge corporation, Life Care Centers Of America, the third-​largest nursing home operator in the U.S. According to Financial Advisor Magazine, this has made Forrest Preston, the closely held company’s founder and chairman, a billionaire.
Update 4÷20÷2016:
Filed a formal complaint with Livanta, which is the Quality Improvement Organization that reviews Medicare services. After an exhaustive review, Livanta determined that the care my Mom received «did NOT meet professionally recognized standards». Vindication aside, this does not help all those who previously received shabby, substandard treatment at Lake Forest Nursing. Looks like they did recently replace their Executive Director. One can only hope true change is taking place but without evidence to the contrary, this switch is probably just putting a new face on an old set of problems.

My 94 year old mother spent one night here and I pulled her out the next day. Just from that one night she developed a painful lesion from them not changing her diaper. There was one very kind nurse behind the desk who told me to get her out of there ASAP. This place was recommended by Mission Hospital.

Great place with happy staff that truly care! I recommend for anyone in Orange County!

My father in law rehabbed here post heart surgery. He was here for 8 weeks. The staff is very caring (Uma and Carmen, thank you!!!) and attentive. The rooms are large, nicely decorated, comfortable and well equipped. The chefs and dietician are extremely accommodating and work together to ensure nutritional needs are met.
The facililities are very clean and the amenities and activities are well planned and entertaining. The nurses, doctors and physical therapists are competent, caring, and professional. I highly recommend this facility and will forever be grateful for the excellent care my father in law received.

Not a bad place if you are with your loved one ²⁴⁄₇ at LFNC. I made a formal complaint against them with the State of CA. It is unfortunate that the State only gave them a slap on the hand. My one and only relative was not given a bath in over 2 weeks and they never inspected his body when he was transferred back to LFNC from another Hospital. He came in with wounds that went untreated by LFNC. Please do not take anyone you care about to this NC.

I am a young 62 year old who had shoulder surgery. I also usually walk on crutches but was unable to do so after the surgery. I went into Lake Forest Nursing Center as a precaution until I was sure I would be able to take care of myself. The facility is understaffed and has no incentive to help the patients. It can take anywhere from 20 min. to almost an hour if you need help getting in or out of a bathroom. The bathrooms are so tiny, you can’t get a wheelchair in and close the door (not fun if you have a roommate). I had a bug crawl out of the wood floor molding in the bathroom one morning. The food is pretty bad for the most part. They did have a chef salad you could get for lunch that was decent, but that’s about it. They rely heavily on the CNA’s (nursing assistants), and they are overworked. You can’t get a straight answer from ANYONE. I saw a doctor once in 6 days. I was supposed to have physical and occupational therapy, but only saw them once in 5 days as well. I really felt for the other patients who were not as cognizant as I as their care was even worse. I looked at some of the Unilocal ratings that were good and all I can say is they must have had private rooms and better nursing. I would never go back and would not recommend this place to anyone!

Do not leave an elderly loved one here if they need standard nursing care. Last night my father said he was «manhandled» and I found hand shaped bruise on him. he is developing bed sore from not being moved not being turned and not being positioned to prevent pressur sores. Physical therapy is once a day 5 days a week. On the weekend no one got my dad out of bed and he layed flat on his back all day. The nursing staff are not RNs and only give Meds. I never saw a nurse check my dad’s skin or ask him what they could do for him. When I arrive he is either wet or the urinal is not in his reach. Nursing care is just negligent. If you end up here hire your own nurse and stay vigilant.

I am trying hard to remain unbiased and not allow my emotions to corrupt my words while writing this. When my loved parent needed temporary follow-​up care after a hospital visit, LFNC was one of the locations recommended to us. In fact it was highly recommended to us. Out of all the locations which we visited prior to his hospital release, it seemed to be the nicest and best staffed. However once our parent was transferred there we found it very lacking. The nurses on duty at that time were never told he was being transferred, it seemed that they were upset that they had more work and no one would explain anything to us. This only got worst. Our caseworker was MIA and never had answers for us. Meetings with the leadership team were almost comical, when we asked how our parent was doing or about what we could to do help them get better — we were told that these meetings were only 15 minutes, they did not have time for our questions and we were there for them to tell us an update, which turned out to be less about our parent’s care. Questions were never answers or followed up on. To be fair, some of the staff was great (once you had their attention) and seemed to care. But they were short staffed that it was very hard to get someone and most employees seemed very overworked/​stressed. The on call doctor must be moonlighting, since he only shows up on Fri and Sat nights. Getting a schedule from anyone or any department was useless as well. When our parent finally left they said nothing, no good bye, no advice, no follow-​up, nothing.
To sum up: I would use this location if it was the best my insurance paid for and if the patient was able to get around/​communicate. But if they are near end of life or need more hands on care — find better. Your love ones deserve it.

My father spent 15 years there and at first it was not bad (when he was still independent) but once he became bed ridden, it was horrible!!! He would sit in his urine soaked bed all night long with a bed sore that was stage 4 and all the way to the bone. All they did was drug him to keep him quiet
If you love your family, DONT SEND THEM THERE — PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU…

My husband is presently being cared for at this center. He has been there for 5 days. I am very impressed with the professionalism and communication received from the center. The nursing staff are on top of their work, they are smart, caring and always very clear in their communication. The rehab staff are absolutely amazing. They have given me a full report on what is being done to help my husband regain his abilities again. The nursing assistants are wonderful and try their best to make my husband comfortable. The record keeping is up to date and the food menu’s look good, and the food smells great.
The whole hospital is clean and the room very comfortable. There is a lovely view of trees from his hospital bed. I have even been able to take his dog with me every day when I visit.
The is plenty of parking for visitors with easy access to the entrance. The whole hospital stay so far has been completely stress free for me. I highly recommend this hospital.

As you read my review of Lake Forest Nursing Center, please keep in mind that people go into a nursing home for a variety of reasons. Some are at the end of their life, others, like me, to mend and get back to life. My review is from the standpoint of a well person with a broken leg who was in a section of the home devoted to this level of care.
If I was writing a typical review, I might simply say that the place is very much like a motel-​resort, and the staff is very competent. But the level of care (more accurately, caring) I received at Lake Forest and my appreciation for them deserves a bit more than that. So, here goes:
Recently I broke my leg so severely that after four days in a hospital, I was sent to Lake Forest Nursing Center for an extended stay. Although my wife checked it out first, I had no idea what to expect. I arrived wheeled in on a gurney with a great deal of trepidation. I was in severe pain. But even that did not stop me for selecting my room. Thank you Nurse Valerie for the view of the Rose Garden!
I had been told that because of my tibia plate fracture I would not be able to put any weight on my broken leg for 12 weeks. With the guidance of a superb orthopedic surgeon, Henry Bruce, MD, that the home got for me and the physical therapy staff that worked with me twice a day, I was standing in 5 weeks, walking in six and home in seven — without a limp.
What I found out about physical therapy is that the facility can best serve you if it has its own full time staff. Lake Forest does. There is no way to overestimate the importance of this. Smaller facilities use contract therapists. You won’t get the continuity of care that is so critical to your recovery. At Lake Forest you have a professionally directed program tailored to your needs with well-​qualified physical and occupational therapists who know you and work with you, day-​in, day-​out.
There are not enough words to express my sincere appreciation to Roy, Jo-​Jo, Christine, Heather and Ashley, as well as all the others in PT and OT who filled in for them at various times, for encouraging me and pushing my limits. They transformed what might have been tedious aching procedures into a wonderful, enjoyable experience. They even interspersed time in the gym with outings to a local lake and beach so I could get ready for real life. When I was walking, we spent time meandering through a park-​like setting. (OK, it was a neighboring cemetery, but it was very peaceful and park-​like). They helped reduce a 12-​week confinement to 7 weeks. I walked out of the home normally.
In most extended care facilities, the people that see the patients the most get paid the least. These are the Certified Nursing Assistants — the CNA’s. Their attitude, training and willingness to help you will in large measure determine how you feel about the facility. Let’s be blunt here, they do everything from changing your bed linens, helping you dress and undress, bringing you food (and feeding you if that’s what you need) to giving you a shower. Even diapering you if you need it (thank goodness, I didn’t).
The CNA’s at Lake Forest were beyond kind, caring and competent. They spoiled me. «Thank you» Veronica, Ciro and Nova, and the other CNA’s, who were with me round the clock. They did whatever they could to keep me comfortable when I first arrived in such pain that the most powerful painkillers were ineffective. Later on, when I was feeling better, they even brought me meals in the rose garden. They were great. I miss actually them.
The Lake Forest nursing staff is competent and ever-​present. Like most nurses in institutions, they mostly push medications. But here they are also knowledgeable and patient. Especially the floor nurses, Cheryl, Chester and Maria. In addition, there are treatment nurses, Lynn, Oni and Aldo who took care of any damages that were done to me by the leg immobilizer as well as getting me an air mattress for my sore butt (from lying in bed).
I had hoped that the food wouldn’t be good so I might lose some weight. Alas, the food was excellent for an institution. OK, it was not Spago, but it was better than Denny’s. Much better.
You need to know that a non-​medical person is of singular importance to you or your loved one in an extended care facility. This is your «Case Manager.» Mine was Haydee. She got me two excellent physicians, Dr. Cameron Khavarian and Dr. Henry Bruce, who saw me in the nursing home rather than have me go to their offices — which would have been very difficult because of my broken leg. She coordinated every aspect of my care. She put it all together for me and she put up with me — at times not the easiest thing to do.
Other non-​medical folks like Jim who admitted me and Kaye the Resident Care Manager were equally kind and competent.
When it was time to leave, I told the staff «you’ve spoiled me so much that it is going to take a surgeon to cut me out of here.»

It’s important for everyone who is thinking of putting a loved one in a skilled nursing facility to see the Medicare ratings and read their reports to see how professionals rate these facilities. Here’s the very negative report on Lake Forest Nursing Center (as rated by
) PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS AS IT’S SCARY!:

My fiancée’s grandmother stayed her for a couple weeks while recuperating from some medical issues. The facilities were always very clean and inviting. Her roommates were always quite lovely, and from what I hear from her, she had a pleasant stay.

Never thought I’d been writing a review for something like this, but here goes…
SNF’s get a bad rap, and a lot of them deserve it. My dad has been in and out of three between hospital visits in the last three months, and this one seems to have set the bar for how to run a skilled nursing rehab facility.
Per my dad, the most difficult customer ever, this place is fantastic. There are about twenty five staff members there, and all appear very focused and professional. My dad is clean, well fed (he loves the food), and his needs are attended to at the touch of a button.
The MD who sees him there is very on top of his game, Dr. Rivero. The physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy team work him hard which he so needs. He is too busy to sit and whine about anything. My dad has a daily schedule which includes all his therapy sessions which he understands are priority to his care.
I think the best thing about this place, and what sets it apart other than the cleanliness and attentiveness, is the fact that they will infuse IVIG at this facility. My dad needs infusions every two weeks to ensure his recovery and if he misses sessions, his decline is rapid and severe. These guys have enough confidence in their staff to allow and deliver the infusions themselves.
Dad had gone from complete paralysis on admission to walking 80 steps today with a walker. He has gained some of the 40lbs lost in the last two months and has color. His attitude and confidence are emerging. Most importantly, he now has hope. As hard as it is to see it leave, it is amazing to see it return.

My nonagenarian dad fell out of a tree while picking avocados (which tells you from the start what a challenge these folks had to deal with…) and snapped his femur. He spent a little over a month at Lake Forest while waiting for his leg to heal enough to make going home feasible. I have been really pleased with the quality of care – the staff are friendly and competent and go out of their way to be sure that remote families are kept in the loop and patients never feel alone. The final vote — not only does Dad like their food… he opted to stay on with his own funds (and he grew up in the Depression, so this is a BIG vote) after his insurance ran out. Well done!

I would be very careful if you place your loved one at Lake Forest Nursing Center. My MIL stayed there after a hip fracture. They left her sitting on the toilet for an hour because they put her there and never came back. The workers speak very little English and if you are trying to complain about something they conveniently do not understand anything you have to say. You need to be on top of everything from monitoring the medications to making sure they get a shower.

My mom fell and broke her hip at her house. After a stay in the hospital she was ready to move from the hospital to a nursing center. Kaiser gave me a list of nursing homes that They would fall within Kaiser’s payment plan.
The list had a few places in Santa Ana, one in Orange and this location the closest to my home. I recognized one of the Santa Ana places as the place that the police take mental cases too. Well we were not leaving her there. I went for a tour of the facility and found the staff to be very helpfully. I picked Lake Forest as the place for my mom’s convalescence.
We moved her into the nursing center on a Sunday. The staff was very helpful every step of the way. They cared very well for my mother and she can be a pill. I was surprised by the level of care that was required by some of the other patents. Many of those patents were obviously never going to be leaving.
I have to give kudos to each of the employees who smiled and tried there best every day under difficult circumstances.

My grandma was staying here after she broke her hip. She had left the hospital but wasn’t ready for assisted living yet so she ended up here. We never had nay problems while she was staying here and the staff was friendly. It is true they have a one star rating from the government but every place that my grandma could go that is covered by her insurance has one star.
The nurses and physical therapist were all kind to my grandma and to us as visitors. I went to visit my grandma everyday for the three weeks she was there except two so I spent a lot of time there.
It isn’t the most pleasant place to be but for what it is it is good. It was better than what I expected a nursing home to be. I should also say my grandma paid extra to have a private room and it made a big difference.

the staff and nurses are very kind and helpful
the facility does not smell and is clean for a nursing home– My grandpa has been staying here for over a week now and this place is so welcoming that it makes you want to keep visiting. They even have an ice cream Parlor!

After a few months of debating if I should write a review of this place… I decided I would just to give people who have an elderly parent or grandparent a heads up about this place.
My Grandma (who has since passed) was at this nursing facility for about 2 months the beginning of this year because she fell and broke a few bones. She couldn’t walk anymore and couldn’t stay at the board and care center she was staying at before her fall.
I went to go visit my Grandma at least once a week while she stayed here and would stay at least 2 – 3 hours each time. Every time I would visit her she would complain that no one had checked on her yet that morning and she needed x y and z. I would physically have to go out and look for someone to help her with what she needed. My grandma also had most of her clothes lost or stolen while she was here. My mom had kept a list of all the clothes she had brought to the facility and everything disappeared except for a pair of pants, a shirt and a bathrobe. And the nursing facility never reimbursed my mom for any of the clothes!
So be forewarned that this place doesn’t keep a good eye on their clients and their clothes will go missing!!! Also, their food isn’t too good either. My Grandma lost about 40 pounds the 2 months she was here because the food was just that bad…