[Carl in Tampa]

During my four month stay at The Club in The Villages they made the Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) had to do double duty as servers of the meal trays, both in the small Dining Room and to the individual rooms. If you pressed your bedside Call button for assistance they simply ignored the call until after dinner was served. My problem had me confined to bed, so it was particularly frustrating because I could not even get into a wheelchair and go to to the door and complain. There was a high turnover in CNAs due to frustration with working conditions and poor scheduling. I don't know how it is now. Their exercise facility is excellent and I feel I had very good Physical Therapists. I'm sure they were unhappy that my recovery was so slow, but my surgery had been major. I don't think I received enough physical therapy during the day. Again, I blame poor scheduling. Some PTs confided in me that they also disliked the scheduling operation.

I also spent some weeks in Freedom Pointe rehab facility a few months after I had been at home. By this time I could walk a short distance with a walker. I was in Freedom Pointe after a relatively minor operation not related to my spine. The food was excellent. The physical therapy equipment was very primitive and low-tech when compared to The Club, but the Therapists themselves were very dedicated. The Medical Director at Freedom Pointe was Dr. Angel Tafur, who is also my personal physician. He could be seen there virtually every morning going through the medical charts along with his ARNP Lauren Tafur, who is also his lovely wife.

If (God Forbid) I should need to go into a rehab facility again, I would chose Freedom Pointe. (Did I mention that the food was excellent?)