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I am appalled by the lack of care given in some nursing homes, and the one my husband is in may be added. He went into the rehab.unit on the 8th of Feb. to try to get him back to where he was when he came home on the 10th of Jan. He had a massive stroke and is paralyzed on the left side with a dislocated left shoulder. I have visited on several occasions, and actually took pictures because I was shocked to see some of the marks and lack of care to my husbands skin breakdown areas and bruises. It was absolutely horrific. My husband is also one who hollers alot at night, and is at the end of the hallway. I went in the other day, and his right hand and arm was shaking and the aide told me he had a hard time waking up that morning, but she still went ahead and fed him his breakfast. I noticed his lack of alertness, and went immediately to the nurses station to ask about the meds. he's been given. She said the 50mg's. of trazadone, adavan and flexeril were all given at 9pm. She did call the dr. for that facility and told him my concern and it was decided to cut down the dosage on the adavan. I was truly concerned because my mom's death was directly linked to a screw-up in wrong amt. of dosage given her in which you know how quick they covered their you know what. I cannot believe these people are even in the caregiving positions, and I am so angry that they don't seem to even care. I did speak with the executive director and social worker the other day by a surprise visit to the room when the social worker and her come walking in when I was visiting my husband. I asked her who she was and she told me she was the exec.dir. and was informed that there were some possible issues I may have wanted to discuss with her.
I informed her of clothes missing; also how maybe they should advise their staff to try to be a little more careful when transferring patients as my husband had the hide knocked off of his left arm which resulted in quite a wound with swelling around it about 2 days later. There was swelling around the wound and his hand and fingers and the wound was white and pussy, obviously infected. Also he is a diabetic in which they do not heal quite as fast either. This was upsetting enough, and my friend had her phone in which I asked her if she would mind taking a couple of pictures. It was also upsetting to see that it was nearly 30 min. before he was tended to after the pt's. brought him back from therapy indicating he needed to be cleaned up and left him in his room. They said they had informed someone already and it would be just a few minutes. Well, I went down at the end of the hall and waited to see how long a few minutes was going to be. If you counted in the time my husband informed the PT's to the time he was actually taken care of you could safely say nearly 45 minutes.They had to pass out lunch trays first before they could take care of any patients because they were getting complaints that the food was cold and that was obviously more of a priority than removing stool and urine off of a patients skin!
I don't know how people that run these places can sleep at night, but all I can say is after this experience, and reading all of your stories, why can their not be something done about the neglect and abuse to these that are unable to fend for themselves? My husbands skin on his bottom was in wonderful condition when he went into this facility, and this was the rehab. unit. I thought there would be no need whatsoever for concern regarding their so called expertise with rehab patients. He is coming home next Tuesday on the 26th, and I truly am going to get somebody's attention even though it no where compares to the other stories shared by rosie123 or msdaisy. I would definitely take some action in both of your situations. We should not let our loved ones have to be subjected to ANY type of neglect or abuse period! sorry, that is just how I think. Those people all the way up to the institution's directors need to be held accountable. And yes, Heads should roll! I said to a lady on the way out that day I would not put my worse enemy in here. She kind of looked at me funny and said "really?" I am going to see if there is any way to find out if there have been any cases reported against this one, and after my husband is home go after them for not taking care of him and anyone else's loved one who has been mistreated in any way. We have got to put a stop to this and stop lookin the other way. I don't know how, but there has got to be more accountability directed to those who are suppose to be taking care of our loved ones, regardless of how much longer they have here.They deserve the dignity by being covered up while being cleaned up, and treated with respect they so clearly deserve, regardless of their illness. We are going to answer one day for all of our actions, and I would not want to be in some of their shoes if they don't change their heart in a hurry.let it be Lord.

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All I can say is for every family is to try real hard to look after your loved ones at home till as longggggggg as you can as I do with my mother. As I am a nurse and knows to well how alot of nurses can be. They have no compassion or empathy but hey if it was their family it would be different!!!!!!
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I agree the situation in these facilities can be appalling. I do not understand how they get away with it. They are paid by medicare, medicaid, etc. it's not free and yet there are very few that are well rated in any state. It is a terrible situation. People actually hire outside help to take care of their loved ones in the very facilities that are supposed to be caring for them. Also, much of time they do hold it against family members who speak up and create "waves" when their neglect fo the loved one is noted. My mother needs a facility and the one I spoke in will not take her back because I actually to note of and took action against some of their neglectful issues. I believe we should write to our congress people/senators. If their funding/payments were cut and they were accountable financially for not providing proper services this would change. Why is it that some facilities are rates with 5 stars and others receive 1? any ideas how to change this?
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The name, address and phone number of the regulatory agency in your state is posted in a prominent place in the facility. You might consider filing a complaint with that agency. You can check on line to see past violations for the facilty.
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Local media may be interested in these stories also.
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There are lawfirms out there that specialize in nursing home and rehab centers in terms of going after them and making them accountable. There is one in Tampa, but you should be able to find one in the state in which you live.

A friend of mine was in charge of marketing for one of these law firms and she saw just how bad nursing homes were. That is why she refused to put both of her parents in any type of home or allow a social worker in her home. She cared for both of her parents for well over 10 years, her mom just passed away last summer.

I know the advice she would give is seek legal assistance, there are law firms that do go after nursing homes and rehab centers. Otherwise they are not accountable to anyone.
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I have a father with dementia and he is still at home. It is getting harder for everyone though and this is my mother's main dread along with the price of putting him somewhere so that she can get some relief. I also work as a nursing assistant at an acute care hospital that is supposed to be one of the best. As an aide, you are supposed to be able to handle at least 7 to 12 patients, taking vitals, feeding, washing, changing, positioning, running down to tests,exams, therapy etc. You also provide counseling, information with family, and anything else that needs to be done, bed making, and re- changing, mopping up the poop from the floor etc. Total care patients should be turned no less than every 2 hours. They should be changed within minutes of realizing the need. Honestly, when I am in the shower helping an elderly patient 100% of the time I get 3 or four more calls for bathroom help from other elderly patients. Sometimes the nurses help; most often they are doing their work. I cannot leave patient #1 to go help patient #2 or patient #3 because if patient #1 falls, I could lose my job. Patient # 1 came from a LTC facility and hasn't showered for a week and is appreciating the attentive care I give. Meanwhile, patient # 2's family comes into the room, smells their patient's B.M. and is openly hostile to me when I come to clean their patient 30 minutes later. Do you think the staff are bad an don't desire to perform the needed tasks for the patients? WRONG! The system is all set up wrong the staff I work with is on full throttle each shift I work. Yes your patient deserves to be changed quickly, but in reality, it can't happen every time and this can lead to skin breakdown. We need to talk realistically in order for change to happen. Instead, the aide may get talked to to appease you, and nothing changes.
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Thanks kmcdono for your input. I totally believe these are staffing issues, and management is cutting cutting costs for the sake of profit, and thus hurting both patients and staff.
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How about having a camera installed some where in the room to see exactly how your husband is treated?
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Management is cutting costs because of profits? It is a non profit hospital. We all need to consider the not for profit healthcare system, doctors salaries, reasons why charges are so high, that is the problem our entire system is broken.
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Yes, the number to report the home should be listed in plain sight and I would not hesitate to call. This I believe is not an isolated problem and some patients may not have anyone that watches over them. The nursing home took good care of my Dad (had problems at night, he wouldn't stay in bed) they were those who were born for the jobs and those that were there for the money, when yoou mixed the two the good outweighed the bad.
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Dad had a stroke, mom took care of him for 13 years until she couldn't do it anymore. She had no choice but to put him in a nursing facility. Same as your husband my father couldnt talk so he would yell...sometimes it was just Boy! boy! boy! Other times it was cursing. So they put him way in the back away from the desk. After only a month he got sick had a major UTI and aspirated his fluids. Then later we found that he had slid down in his bed so that his foot was pushed up against the foot of the bed. Which caused a pressure wound that would not heal. So in November he was placed in the nursing home, pulled out and placed in another one in December and died of a heart attack Dec 29. Died one night before he was to have surgery and his leg removed below the knee due to the pressure wound that caused grangrene. Let me just say this....if you are going to pay for a nursing home to care for anyone. Please consider the cost of having a caregiver come into your home and be paid. There are so many government agencies out there that you can look into for Respite care. I promised my mom I would never send her to a nursing home after that. I cared for mom the last 10 years after Dad died and she lived in my home for the last 6 months before she passed away in January. It was a rough road but I will never regret keeping my promise. Good luck. (((hugs))) to you.
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I will also take care of my mom before I put her in those dreadful nursing homes. My mom went into rehab because she got hip replacement and went in with just wound from surgery and came out with a stage 3 bedsore on her tailbone already tunneling. I have 5 children and I had been caregiving everyday for almost 2 years and was on verge of burnout and when my mom went into nursing home I knew family had to be there daily so that she will be taken care of well. Well everyday 1 of my children would go in and visit as to give me a break from ALWAYS being the only one (God Bless Their Souls), and also my husband. I went in first few days and then 5 days later because family took turns and boy did I flip out. My mom had went directly after surgery and when she got there they did full body assesment because I was there for the next 2 days. Day in and out. When I returned after family visited, my mom hadn't showered, had her teeth brushed, was in the same clothes, was in the same pull up ( I know because I counted them before I left). She gets up to use bathroom but was supposed to push call button so that nurses will help her to bathroom.yeah with dementia how can they remember that one. I went in with tears from being so angry that they have neglected my mom. I had the director, the counselor, the ombudsman and anyone who would listen filed a complaint and nursing home was already under investigation that is the reason ombudsman happen to be there when I filed the complaint. Somehow in all of this my moms clothes were missing. Now how can that be possible if they didn't change my mom in 5 days. Her slippers were missing too which she always uses to go to bathroom. I made noise and then it was catering to my mom for the next 2 days because I had told them I was taking her home because of all the neglect I had work to do to get her bed sore healed and also her physical therapy to get her back to where she was. I did better then they did. I have NEVER in my life realized how bad a nursing home was until I put my mom in one. I know they were under staffed but my goodness 5 days to shower my mom. She still had the iodine on her hip from the surgery. I am appalled that they are still in business. I have always been my moms advocate but I can't believe the other resident's who don't have someone to speak for them what they are going through. I really thought she was being cared for. I didn't think to ask what my mom was wearing because I thought she was being changed at least. Then I find out that they are taking all 350 residents a shower in 1 shower because the other ones have mold on the floors so it's 2 showers a week per resident. Wow. I'm so sad for all those residents. I keep in touch with the ombudsman, I took my mom shopping for new clothes which the nursing home reimbursed me for, and vowed to never put my mom in a nursing home again. Her insurance paid 5,000.00 for the time she spent there and I cannot believe the care she did not receive for that amount of money. Whether it was thru medicaid or private pay. For that amount of money she could have stayed at the Hilton with 24 hour nurses. It makes me sick. I advocate for my mom in everyplace that she goes if she is treated badly not just for her but for all the people that have to be in their care. Hospitals, rehab centers, life transitions, anything and anywhere. We have to change the way these places are run. 1 person at a time. I agree, how do these people sleep at night. But if it was their mom........ Well we all know the answer to that one. I don't trust no one with my mom but my family. No one will care for her the way we do. I just feel awful for the people that don't have no one to care for them and they have to go into these homes. LORD help us all.
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When my mom tranfers to memory care I will have a hidden nanny cam (or 2!) and go unannounced often.
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