The Gardens And Guardian is certified as a Medicare facility and has been approved to provide these services since 2012-03-21. Medicare covers short-term skilled nursing care (typically up to 100 days after a qualifying hospital stay). Medicaid covers long-term care for residents who meet financial eligibility requirements. Contact the facility at (337) 480-1550 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

The Gardens And Guardian holds an overall CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) rating of 5 out of 5 stars. This is made up of three components: Health Inspection (5★), Staffing (3★), and Quality of Resident Care (2★). Our independent composite quality score — which uses the raw underlying CMS numbers to break ties between similarly-rated facilities — is 71.8/100, placing it #7471 of 14703 facilities nationally and #43 of 266 in Louisiana. Star ratings are a useful starting point, but the composite score and individual sub-ratings give a more complete picture for families comparing facilities.

Each resident at The Gardens And Guardian receives a reported average of 5 hours 17 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 22 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 1 hour 51 minutes; Nurse Aide — 3 hours 4 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 4 hours 20 minutes per resident per day. The CMS Staffing Rating for this facility is 3 out of 5. The national average for total nursing hours is approximately 3.5 hrs/day. Total nursing staff turnover is 64.7%. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

The facility has received 14 fine(s) over the 5-year period, totaling $136,715. 16 substantiated complaints were recorded across the 5-year period — families should request details from the facility or review CMS inspection findings. There were 1 Medicare payment denial(s) in the current period. In the most recent CMS reporting period, the facility received 0 fine(s) totaling $0, and 1 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 1. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 20.0 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, The Gardens And Guardian ranks 7471st out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 71.8/100), placing it in the below average nationwide. Within LA, it ranks 43rd out of 266 nursing homes. In Lake Charles, it ranks 1st out of 7 facilities. Among facilities sharing its ZIP code, it ranks 1st of 3. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #831 nationally and RN hours rank #11,482 nationally (#34 in LA). Our composite quality score of 71.8/100 weighs health inspections, quality of resident care, staffing hours, compliance record, and five-year performance trends — giving a more complete picture than CMS star ratings alone, which can place hundreds of facilities in the same 5-star bucket. To browse and compare all nursing homes in Lake Charles, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/louisiana/lake-charles/