Juniper Village - the Spearly Center

I'm saddened by the negative perception this facility sometimes receives. My loved one has lived at Spearly for many years, and like many residents here, this community was his last hope. Spearly is not a typical nursing home—they care for an underserved population that many other places simply won’t accept, often relying solely on Medicaid funding. In my experience, they have done an outstanding job. I visit several times a week and consistently witness genuine compassion from the entire team. My deepest respect goes out to the staff and leadership at Spearly. People are often quick to point out the bad but rarely take the time to acknowledge the good. Spearly, thank you for the important work you do—please keep it up.

I’ll be honest—when I first placed my brother here, I cried for two days. But Mark, the Director, was incredibly responsive and reassured me throughout the process. We met with his social worker and nurse, and they helped put my mind at ease. A big thank you to Mark, Blake, and Stephanie. It’s never easy to entrust a loved one to a facility, but know that most of the staff genuinely have your loved one’s best interests at heart.

Good food, nice staff yet I feel like a prisoner as I'm not allowed leave to go to the library or store. My previous housing is shutdown for upto a year due to asbestos. I'm contacting my ombudsman for assistance.

honestly, your experience really depends on who the social worker is. We’ve had social workers who were very responsive to us and obviously very caring, and we’ve had some who have literally ignored us when we’ve had simple concerns or requests. It seems like it’s a revolving door there and there’s no one to speak with, when the social worker who works with your family member chooses to ignore you. It’s especially hard when you’re out of state and you’ve placed a lot of faith and trust in people who you may not have even met. What puzzles me, is that you would think that they would be happy that their resident has family who is interested in the well-being of that resident. For instance, we regularly send food to our person and it’s always a crapshoot if that person Actually receives the deliveries. why is this such a hard thing? if there is a reason why the food isn’t being delivered or shouldn’t be received by the resident, then just let us know. It’s not like we want to be pests….

I only recommend this facility bas a last resort and only if you have close contact with your loved one. We have a unique family who will verbally advocate for themselves when able. The facility does not like this characteristic. 1. The facility placed them on ativan and didnt tell the family for months a sub nurse actually revealed it. The ativan was prescribed by the doctor as a prn med for COPD. The facility was giving it to them twice a day for about 3 months. The family was concerned about the changes in our loved one who expressed initially they thought they had been given the wrong meds. They were confused , stopped eating was no longer able to use thier cell phone and became very lethargic- not getting out of bed for days. Staff never mentioned this new medication. The doctor was immediately contacted by the family and discontinued the medication immediately. Our family member has drastically impoved. 2.They used a blood meter on two patients during a state inspection, and it was observed by the state inspector. 3.Staff is always in a meeting when you call , so be persistent and maintain consistent contact i recommend once a week but no less then by weekly. 4. Our family member was sent to the hospital the facility refused to take them back unless the family signed a DNR/DNI. 5. The facility wont give seasoning to residents even if there are no dietary restrictions- mrs dash, pepper , salt , tijian any basic seasoning to make the food more palatable. Our family member was mouthful a few years ago l and able to go buy cigarettes- bring them into their room,( should have given cigarettes to staff) they are on oxygen ; take bus rides around the city - might havr gotten lost a few times, bus routes changed. this is how they ended up here, now they are to fragile/vulnerable to move. As as family we own our family members actions had consequences. This being here is one of them.