Mom Is at a Rehab Center

[spicedogs]

I brought mom to her new place, a rehab center about 11 miles from home. She is much closer now. I can get to her within 20 minutes. It took me over an hour to go to the hospital. Speaking of the hospital, I have a long list of complaints to make tomorrow:

1. Mom needed assistance and it took them 2 hours to respond. I know, I was there.

2. They failed to wash her in the morning.

3. They never took her menu requests and she ended up getting food she didn't care for.

4. They left her sitting in a chair from 9 am till 3 pm. Never bothered to check in on her to see whether she needed assistance or go to the bathroom. They didn't give her the nurse button either. Also, they gave her her lunch at 3 pm. They had to reheat it for her. Is this a way to treat the elderly?

5. She was to be discharged, but refused to dress her. They wanted her to go to the new facility wearing her hospital gown. It was very cold out. When I complained, they told me that it was better for her to go in her gown,  as she would have to be dressed for bed in the new facility. WTF, it was cold out. Besides, they told me that she was not ill enough to travel by ambulance, hence I would have to drive her myself. This meant that she would have to sit in my car wearing a hospital gown with no underwear. Are these people barbarians? I insisted that they dress her. They did.

6. They had an inexperienced high school student take her down to  my car in a wheel chair. He didn't know how to assist her to sit in my car.  Mom was hurt in the process. How can they send an inexperienced kid to transport and  assist a person who just had orthopedic surgery?

7. Mom's blood pressure is low. She may still be bleeding internally. This means that they discharged her when she was still needing medical care. Not good.

Comments

[galileah-galile.livejournal.com]

WTF? Yeah, you do have along (but justified) list of greivances. I hope she can get into a better facility to heal up.

[shalimar77777.livejournal.com]

Wow...that sounds like a nightmare. Nothing like an extended hospital stay to see the back alley of disneyland. #5 is the worst. What were they thinking?

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

OMG! That's terrible! Hopefully you can go to a better hospital in the future. I sure hope the rehab center keeps a close eye on her!

[greyrider.livejournal.com]

OMG! That sounds as bad as our local hospital. What IS wrong those people?

Grr!

[bella-fox.livejournal.com]

Wow, sounds like the hospital where my grandmother received care over the summer. You should file a formal complaint.

[polvodestrella.livejournal.com]

And that's the hospital where people are suposed to go to get better when something bad happened to them? God, the cure is worse than the disease!

Hope the better place is a lot better for your mom and they take care of her the way she deserves.

[ben-munchkin.livejournal.com]

lets hope the rehab center will be more better for her.

[lilygcs.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear about the treatment your Mom experienced at the hospital. It's sad to think that in a place where you are at to heal and get better you can run across such shoddy service.
I hope the rehab facility will be better for her. *hugs*

[greenleaf-y.livejournal.com]

It sounds very like the damned Russian medicine :=(((. Very bad. I hope, your mom will owns better service at another hospital. *big huge*

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

There is SO MUCH WRONG with all of this.

I'm so sorry, Edith.

[maeve-lob.livejournal.com]

Welcome to care for the elderly in America. We went through the *exact* same thing with my dad and my mom. When mom was in the hospital they expected us to take care of her. They couldn't do it. I had to fly across the country to come help my sister in law cope with it. We had to feed her, help change her and clean her up and make sure she wasn't getting sicker. We were afraid to leave. She just would have been left on her own to fend for herself and she with not to two marbles rattling around in her head. And god forbid they have a mental problem because the staff will get upset with them for not being sane and get upset with you for burdening them with her. Once she was settled in an assisted living facility it was better. It got even better when she was transferred to the dementia unit. But the rehab place was just as you described it. This was in a very upscale area in a pretty posh facility too. The problem is no one wants to work in these facilities except those who can't get work elsewhere. No company can make money off of them and there is no place a nonprofit could get money to run them. So this is what you get. No one wants to invest money in America's dying. They are not her future so why care.

Just a reminder to use a ton of alcohol hand cleaner whenever in one of those places. Mom picked up C diff in the hospital. You don't want to. That is why I got out of the hospital as fast as I could last summer. The surgeon wanted me to spend a second night just to make sure adhesions they had cut didn't cause problems but I had to get out of there. Told my husband I was leaving in a cab if he wouldn't drive me home.

I swear to God, if I get sick like my mom I want to be left alone to die in my house. When I get that bad I want to be let die.

Good luck with your mom. I hope she gets better soon. Your mom is lucky to have you.