| After fighting with the Discharge Planners to get him into a home closer to where we live and finally filing a complaint, Kaiser put my step-father in a place on Fairfax near Olympic.
I looked it up in the Medicare Ratings Page and was discouraged to see it was another 2 star home but the staff had 3 stars so there was hope. And we were up against a wall. The discharge planners at Kaiser has us so scared that we agreed for fear they'd plop him on my mother's doorstep.
(She's 81 and in no shape to care for him without 24 hour help.)
The staff seemed nice enough and after the last place we knew some of the rules. We made sure all of his stuff was marked and inventoried. The last place didn't tell us about these things so we learned the hard way after loosing some property.
We came in almost every day for the 1st week to make sure things were OK. And Norm was getting some physical therapy as well. But, he'd lost an awful lot of weight. He came in around 125 and dropped to 118 after the first week. He wasn't eating. We don't really understand why but when I found that they weren't gluing in his dentures after cleaning them and that they weren't fitting right anymore, as he'd lost sooooo much weight, they definitely could have contributed to the problem.
I remember when when I discovered the problem with his teeth. I called the head nurse. She said, "well you're supposed to bring his glue." and I responded, "we did the 2nd day he arrived, we put it in the inventory and it's in the drawer, right there." as I pointed at his dresser.
She got his nurse and took her over to the drawer and showed it too her and said, make sure his teeth are glued in. DOES SOMEONE HAVE TO BE TOLD THIS! DON'T THEY TEACH THIS IN THE SCHOOL WHERE THESE PEOPLE WERE CERTIFIED!
We later told the Dr., who was very nice and was trying her best to keep track of things. She was shocked and put it into her orders to look into his teeth. The next day he was fitted for better dentures. So there was someone who cared, just not the staff.
Another day I was there and they did his vitals. His blood pressure was very low and so was his o2 level. "Why isn't he on oxygen?" I asked. The nurse shrugged her shoulders and then came in with an oxygen unit. Did the Dr order this or did I? Or do they just do things when someone catches them at NOT doing what they should be doing?
Several days later I was there and the Oxygen Machine's alarms was going off. I called it to the attention of one of the nurses or aides or what ever they are, and some one came in and played with it and the alarm was off for a while and then went on again. Nobody paid attention.
So, I complained about it again, and they brought in a
big O2 tank and set it up but nobody put him back on it.
It just sat there. I asked and they said they were getting to it.
After 2 weeks at this home Norm slid even further down hill.
He was wasting away. They would try and feed him this mixture with a straw and he'd get most of it down, but when my Mom asked them if this was a protein drink they said, "No, it's just nutrients." I've got a cousin who's a Registered Dietitian and a close friend who's also an RD and both of them said it's supposed to be a protein solution. Perhaps the nurse?/aide?, didn't know?
Norm began to writhe in pain from time to time. He'd sit there and then tense up and moan. I asked them, to check him out. They said, "he's fine." and smiled at me.
Unbelievable!
I said, "just stay here for about 5 minutes and observe." So the nurse did and Norm winced about 3 more times. It was as if she'd never seen him do it and I know I'd seen him do it from time to time but it was getting more severe. I asked her if possibly his UTI (urinary track infection) could have spread or gotten worse. She said that he didn't have a fever ... as if that should be the only indicator. I insisted, that he was in pain and that they should check it out.
The next day the same nurse who had finally stopped to observe, called 911 and had him taken to the closest hospital.
That's when we got the call again. It was right after my mom had been visiting.
They said, his blood pressure had fallen and that his Kidney's were in acute failure. Gee do you think that was the pain he was feeling?
They kept him in their ICU for almost a week before they felt he was stable enough to transfer back to Kaiser. And now Kaiser has him in their ICU.
But while he was in the other place they finally put in a feeding tube. FINALLY! And now he's starting to gain back some weight.
Now my mother is living in fear that Kaiser will get him just stable enough to toss back out into the homes.
I hope they don't but what can we do? It takes 30 days to dis-enroll him from Kaiser and we don't the money to cover his care until they relinquish his Medicare funds. So we feel stuck.
I want to say, "if only the people who worked at these places seemed to care!" but I know some of them do, but I've seen more than a few of them that are so over worked and stressed out and under paid that they take it out of the people they're supposed to be caring for.
And I know that caring for the elderly can be a very taxing profession. Alzheimer patients can be brutal. And there were several of them at this place screaming and moaning. One parked herself right outside Norm's door and would sit there screaming.
Alzheimer patients should be in separate wings from those recovering from surgery. And patients like Norm who was only supposed to be in one of these places for a few weeks or at most a month should not be put in with screamers and long terms. I know it was depressing him terribly.
He told me several times he was afraid of the place. "You don't know what goes on here at night" he'd say. And no we don't, and that's scary. Was he making it up? Is he really delusional? One wonders when you see what goes on there throughout the day. I mean really see it, without the blinders that the staff must put on out of self preservation.
AGAIN this was a man who was only supposed to be in one of these places for a few weeks, perhaps a month and then he was supposed to be able to come home. And it's now been over 7 months.
WE'VE GOT TO STRIP THE BLINDERS OFF and look at what's happening to our mothers and fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles. We need to change the system! Some how! Some way! We need to pull the covers off they way our elderly are treated in this country and fix it because WE'RE NEXT! |
