I was in Salisbury recently for a funeral of a relative. While there I had time to spend with my father who as an aging WW2 vet is starting to have a lot of health problems.
After I left and I returned to my work place he suffered a fall and had to be hospitalized. For some strange reason he lost his ability to stand and walk. My step mother bless her heart has had him moved to the Genesis Nursing Home on Civic AV. Here he is to undergo physical therapy so that he can become mobile again.
Last night while talking to her she was very unhappy about the way the staff at the facility was treating him. It seems that after his therapy treatment yesterday they brought him back to his bed and just left him there with all of his cloths on including shoes. Now he is not able to remove any of these items without a lot of help.
Has our society gotten so callus and financial driven that we no longer care for our fellow man. Here is a person who went into the US service and did what he thought right, but when he needs help the health care profession does not have the compassion to do their job right.
Maybe you can shed a little light on this area. If we all are lucky maybe we can live to be so old and not need this type of care. Personally if this type of treatment continues I will most likely consult the legal community and see what can be done to help improve the situation.
18 comments:
I'm most sure that resident abuse can be reported to the local health department. If they don't handle it they will tell you where to call, those old folks do have rights too.
I don't make excuses but I can tell you that state funded nursing homes are terribly under funded. Pay is low, however that is no excuse to take advantage of the elderly.
Joe, I used to work at a local Nursing Home. Unfortunately, what that gentleman experienced is not uncommon.
It is difficult to both recruit and retain qualified individuals to work in such a demandng and emotionally draining atmosphere. Also, the nursing home community is a small one, so if "Jane Doe" gets fired or quits without notice, or does a No Call/No Show, it gets around fast. That person has to go to Harrison House or Mallard Bay to try to find work.
Also, a lot of the Nursing Assistants are either recent graduates or have been in the profession so long that they don't care. Experience and apathy are a bad combination. The money is also lousy as are the working conditions at some facilities.
You also have to understand that most facilites are run by about a half-dozen larger companies. Instead of there being local ownership, local control, and local accountability, the Nursing Home Administrators have to account to a larger corporate entity.
The woman whose husband is in Genesis has a couple of recourses. She can address the Nursing Supervisor of the unit about the Nursing Assistant. If that goes nowhere, then she can talk to the Director of Nursing. If nothing changes, or God forbid, things get worse, she can go to the Administrator. That usually gets EVERYONE'S attention. The Administrator usually will make sure things change because they know the next step will be getting the State involved or calling the "Corporate Office". The wife can then either call the DHMH in Balitmore and ask for the Long Term Care division. The person that runs that division is great and will send a group down to investigate. The wife can also call the Long Term Care Ombudsman at MAC. Her name is Cheryl Senkbeil. She is very proactive and will get to the bottom of what is going on very quickly. If she or the state have to do what's called a "Complaint Investigation", the Nursing Home has to abide by what they say.
Finally, it bears mentioning that the wife should have received a copy of "The Patient's Bill of Rights" upon admission. If she did not, she should ask for one. That booklet gives the Code of Marylnd Regulations in regards to nursing homes. Yes, it's in legalease, but it is clear enough to understand what her husband's rights are. As his responsible party, she can make sure his rights are not violated.
I hope this helps you and this lady out.
This facility is now a joint venture with the local hospital ("Peninsula ...") in Salisbury, I believe.
Health Care Maven
Anonymous said...
This facility is now a joint venture with the local hospital ("Peninsula ...") in Salisbury, I believe.
Health Care Maven
11:08 AM
Legally, that is not allowed. HOWEVER, if you look at the list of people that have a local stake in Genesis, and a list of people who have a stake in PRMC, there is an interesting link. When Nursing Home care is recommended, a patient is given a folder/booklet with "options" in it. Genesis is presented as the best "option", but Wicomico, Anchorage, and Healthsouth are listed as "also-rans". It's actually quite disengenous. That is the reason people think Genesis is so much better and why no one can get in there. They are always full because they think that Genesis and the hospital will work better together. All it is is a big money game. You only have one choice as a local hospital, and they make it like you only have once choice as a nursing home. People need to check out the other options.
"Legally, that is not allowed."
I do not know the legal end of it, but I can say I know for a fact that Genesis and PRMC are partners, and the pressure to send someone out of PRMC to Geneis is laid on heavily.
Watchfuleye:
Have you seen this on the hospitals website:
SALISBURY REHABILITATION AND NURSING CENTER
A Partnership of the Peninsula Regional Health System and the Genesis Eldercare Network.
Joe, three years ago I had someone very dear to me there. And I did all of the coming at different times etc to keep the staff off guard. She need assistance to go to the ladies one afternoon and I sent for help. I left the room but could see her bed without being seen. He threw her onto the bed knocking the breath out of her. He then saw me. He headed for the nurses station with me on his heals. I said what I saw....he said he didn't do that. The nurse said she would look into it. I got her out to another facility 4 days later. On the way out that charge nurse whispered how sorry she was for what happened. Please be careful with loved one.
One way to help ensure these residents are not abused is for the family to be involved with thier loved ones.
Unfortunately, too many end up in a nursing home and treated like they're in storage. No one visits on a regular basis, if ever, or only stopping by on birthdays and Christmas. Too often, this is the case and if no one visits, the patients feel that have no one to help them. They are scared to talk to employees of the facility because they fear retalition or that they will not be believed and just be labeled as crazy.
When's the last time you visited your friends and family in the nursing home?
Elderly abuse happens too often and we need to protect this portion of the population as we do others.
Unfortunately, I was a resident at Salisbury Nursing & Rehab. Center for over 6 months. My experience there found that the place should be closed immediately!! When a patient at that facility is flat on their back and unable to move and is UNABLE TO EVEN GET A DRINK OF WATER - it is in a sad state of operation for the facility. Friends and family provided me with bottled water in order for me to have a supply available when needed, although it was not cold - anything wet was delicious! I was cursed by members of the staff because I used the call bell to ask that my urinal be emptied. The urinal was so full that it could not be used again without causing a spill (and more yelling and cursing from the staff - for messing up the bed!). The therapy staff is very caring, but the care staff leaves a lot to be desired. The poor care that I was given, was after being forced to go there by P.R.M.C. In addition, I was fortunate to have high end BC BS insurance that was billed by Salisbury Nursing Home for over $10,850.00 PER MONTH WITHOUT GIVING ME ANY PHYSICAL THERAPY. Hell on earth - Salisbury Nuring and Rehabilitation Center - or whatever they are called today - I am sure they will change the name to protect the hospital and those who are filling their pockets daily without doing any work.
And think that the floor of PRMC that is referred to as TLC has a link to Genesis also as to supervisers.
If he was i WWII he is also old enough to be dead.
JR, you have to be the biggest asshole I have ever had the misfortune to meet.
"Partnership" is different than "Ownership". Hospitals can have a partnership with whomever, but they cannot actually OWN a part of the nursing home. Can we say "conflict of interest". Again, it's not about what is right it' about who's involved.
It also bears noting that the Nursing Home end of Genesis is a separate entity from the Rehab end of Genesis.
Dont know if it is fact or not but I was told that PRMC owns 51%. If that is true then there is no partnership it is ownership
The person who wrote that PRMC owns 51% of Genesis (Salisbury Nursing) is correct, according to the information supplied to me by an administrator in another nursing home.
I am all too familiar with SNR, having been a daily witness to the abysmal care offered thereto my loved one. The "care" probably would have been a lot worse if I had not been there every day monitoring the staff.
Unit 6 is especially notorious; unfortunately, that is where my loved one spent most of her time.
Genesis looks at it as semantics. They use words like "partnership" to deceive DHMH. Unfortunately, it's run through so many different channels that it is hard to prove there is ownership. Point is--it's sleazy, underhanded and disengenous. Salisbury NH is not all that. Everytime I was there, the place smelled like stale urine. My grandmother was a resident there for rehab, and they did nothing. I was 14, and they told me since I was there, I had to get her to the toilet myself. She ended up passing away a mere 4 months after going in there.
My grandfather died before 60 days elapsed.
Not to support the Nursing home but I had a family member on station 7 and they did recieve pretty ok care. Over all I dont like this place or other nursing homes
I have another horror story to tell. My elderly mother was there ay Genesis recouperating from a flareup of CHF. She was rather weak and unsteady of her feet. Her meds made her unsteady on her feet. Fearing a fall and a busted hip, I told her that she should not go to the bathroom without someone helping her get there. A couple of days later, she told me she asked for help late at nite and the nurses aide told her that she should just urinate on herself, and they would clean her up later. Needles to say, my footprints are probably still on the DON's desk from when I when in there and raised absolute hell!! I got an apology and she got help with no problem from there on out!
A bit of advise from someone who has dealt with many nursing homes in many locations. What you need to do is establish early on that you have a watchful eye on your loved one's care, and will raise hell if it not up to par. Have a cow over the first thing that is out of line. It will be passed around quickly to take good care of that particular person, because that pesky son/daughter/etc. will stop by at anytime, and raise hell if things are not right. Do just that, stop by at different times on all the shifts. Get known as a staunch and motivated advocate for your love one. They will get much better care.
I feel so sorry for the lost souls in these places who have no one to look out for them. They are the ones who really get screwed.
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