Pine Acres Care Ctr in DeKalb, IL

Pros

• The facility is described as a beautiful, well-kept, and organized place with great conversations with staff.
• The staff are friendly and the environment feels like family.
• There is no abuse or neglect toward elders noted by reviewers.
• The rehab services are very good and help residents get going quickly.
• The facility is one of the best run, with a family atmosphere and exceptional, focused care.
• The staff keep families informed and involved in decisions.
• The residents are well cared for and the staff are highly regarded.
• The facility is a great place to work.

Cons

• The facility is horrible, with atrocious maintenance, cleanliness, and management.
• It appears they never mop or sweep, and rooms look unkempt and unclean.
• The management does not value a clean or well-maintained facility.
• The environment is surrounded by filth, and none of the guests deserve to be surrounded by such conditions.
• The staff are severely understaffed, with heavy workloads and poor follow-through.
• The reviewer would give zero stars due to a terrible experience with management.
• There have been unexplained injuries to residents and even a death; look elsewhere for quality elder care.
• Power outages occur frequently, and management is accused of covering up these incidents.
• Aides have neglected residents, such as leaving a resident in a soiled diaper for hours, and some staff are lazy.

Review

Pine Acres Care Center in DeKalb is best suited for families seeking a short-term rehab option wrapped in a notably “homey” atmosphere, where a portion of the staff genuinely cares and residents can benefit from focused rehabilitation efforts when present. The facility shows potential when rehab is the primary goal and when the family prioritizes a sense of belonging and ongoing communication with caregivers. In other words, it can work for those who value rapid mobility gains and a friendly, familial staff dynamic, provided expectations are kept realistic about long-term care and consistency.

Those who should consider alternatives are families prioritizing pristine cleanliness, flawless maintenance, and airtight safety. The reviews repeatedly flag chronic maintenance issues, odors, and rooms that feel unkempt, along with frequent power outages and a perception that management tolerates underperformance. For long-term residents who require steady, predictable staffing, rigorous oversight, and transparent incident handling, Pine Acres can feel unstable. Families with heightened concerns about safety, consistent follow-through, or clean, well-maintained environments may want to look elsewhere.

The strongest positives cited include genuine warmth from many caregivers and, in some cases, strong rehab outcomes. When staff engagement is present, residents report meaningful conversations, personalized attention, and a sense of being treated like family. Some reviewers praise the facility as well-run and attentive to decisions involving residents, underscoring that, in the right shifts and leadership moments, care can be attentive and focused. These positive threads suggest that, with adequate staffing and managerial consistency, Pine Acres can deliver credible, person-centered care and credible rehabilitation progress.

However, these strengths are not consistently realized, and the downsides repeatedly undermine them. Significant concerns center on under-staffing, heavy workloads, and inconsistent follow-through. Reports of residents left unattended, delayed responses, and a troubling incident where a resident sustained injuries point to vulnerabilities in day-to-day safety and accountability. The combination of maintenance neglect, odor, and a perception that management prioritizes appearances or cost-cutting over resident welfare creates a real tension between the hopeful rehab narrative and the lived experience of long-term residents.

This facility seems to work best when families approach with a clear, evaluated plan: insist on concrete staffing numbers, direct access to rehabilitation progress, and strict maintenance schedules. Prospective residents and families should demand current tours focused on cleanliness, room upkeep, and hazard avoidance; request to see recent incident logs and corrective action histories; and speak with multiple staff members, including front-line caregivers and supervisors, about expectations for daily care. The decision hinges on whether the rehab-to-long-term balance can be trusted to stay positive, and whether the management culture can sustain accountability across shifts.

In the end, Pine Acres can be a practical choice for those prioritizing rehabilitation and a family-like atmosphere, but only if vigilance is maintained and expectations are calibrated to the facility’s volatility. Those who cannot tolerate recurrent cleanliness problems, frequent understaffing, or opaque incident handling should pursue alternatives and map out contingency plans. If Pine Acres is selected, it benefits from a structured monitoring approach: regular updates to families, defined care plans with measurable milestones, and a candid, ongoing assessment of staffing stability. The goal is to secure a living arrangement where rehabilitation progress is steady, while daily life remains clean, safe, and consistently supervised.

Pharmacies

• Lehan Drugs (0.2 miles)
• Medicine Stop (0.4 miles)
• Dekalb Clinic (0.9 miles)
• Walgreens (1 miles)
• Schnucks (1 miles)
• CVS Pharmacy (1.3 miles)
• CVS Pharmacy (3.2 miles)

Places of Worship

• Faith Baptist Church (0.7 miles)
• First Baptist Church of Dekalb (0.8 miles)
• DeKalb Church of Christ (1 miles)
• Baptist Campus Ministry (1.6 miles)
• Newman Catholic Student Center (1.6 miles)
• Hillcrest Covenant Church (2.1 miles)
• Westminster Presbyterian Church (2.2 miles)

Parks

• Huntley Park (0.9 miles)
• Mason Park (1.2 miles)
• Katz Park (2.6 miles)
• P A Nehring Forest Preserve (3.5 miles)
• Cortland Community Park (3.6 miles)
• Sycamore Community Park (6.4 miles)
• Old Mill Park (6.8 miles)

Physicians

• Heriberto Menendez MD (0.9 miles)
• Van Orthopedic (1.1 miles)
• Dynamic Psychiatry (1.1 miles)
• All About Eyes (2.9 miles)
• Kch Child Development Clinic (3.5 miles)
• Digestive Health Center (3.8 miles)
• Midwest Neurology (3.9 miles)

Restaurants

• McDonald's (1 miles)
• Keg & Kernel by Tangled Roots Brewing Company (1 miles)
• Yen Ching (1.2 miles)
• Junction Eating Place (1.3 miles)
• Pizza Villa (1.3 miles)
• Fushi Yami (1.3 miles)
• Molly's Eatery & Drinkery (1.3 miles)

Cafes

• Starbucks (1.4 miles)
• Starbucks (3.3 miles)

Theaters

• AMC Movie Theater (2.8 miles)

Hospitals

• Kindred Hospital Sycamore (5.8 miles)

Transportation

• BNSF Railway (15.4 miles)
• Ryder (15.7 miles)