My mom has been a patient at the Ballou Home for the last two years. Three of my aunts and several cousins have been residents there. The care at levels has been excellent. The nurses and social worker (who is a nurse and social worker), as well as, dietary, maintenance and housekeeping are all kind and caring. Most rooms are private and well kept.
Activities are plentiful and creative. The food is very good. An excellent facility.

DO NOT SEND YOUR LOVED ONE HERE. The in-house staff is wonderful; however, the administration and social worker are terrible and treat your beloved family member solely as a unit of inventory. My family was not given a 30 day notice (not even a 24 hour notice) about transporting my grandmother out of the facility. My grandmother, who suffers from dementia, was forced out of her room for false allegations of violence, because a more notable figure in the town of Woonsocket needed the best room-her room.

My family has been very involved with my grandmother's care and had multiple meetings. NOT ONCE was it ever mentioned that she showed signs of violence or aggression. The same week she was kicked out, my family had a meeting with a manager who stated that they were not considering transporting my grandmother yet, but only in regards to her level of dementia and the care she needed and what they are able to provide. NO MENTION of violence or any other reason Ballou states why they have the right to remove someone from their facility.

For an elderly woman that has dementia, the experience was traumatic and very confusing. The staff that cared for her were completely perplexed as to why she was being removed. My family has a very open relationship with the staff, and the staff was approaching my family in tears because of how confused and sorry they felt. They had zero understanding or knowledge of why she was being kicked out on such short notice. There was never a discussion about aggressive tendencies, no warnings, no meetings, no first occurrences, nothing.

A social worker is supposed to be the voice and protector of the patient. DO NOT EXPECT THAT HERE. She was more like a telemarketer badgering my family, threatening us that my grandmother would be forcefully transported to another facility if we did not remove her from the building within the next day.

Besides this awful experience, they also have an elderly cat on the second floor that uses patient's rooms as its litter box. It also bit my aunt and caused an infection. How do we know if this isn't happening to our loved ones as well?

This entire experience saddens me so deeply. The staff is great and cared for my grandfather here until his dying day, but after the way my grandmother and family were treated I cannot stay silent about this facility. If your loved one requires more one on one and more specialized care, do not send them here. On many occasions, my grandmother was dirty and so disheveled looking. I will support the staff here, but for more specialized care, I do not believe they are a functioning facility.

Please do not disregard my complaint as a crazed looney. Please take it seriously. I highly recommend doing more research. Please listen to my warning. Wish you all the best in your search of care for your loved one and hope no one has to experience what my grandmother and family recently went through.