I have had a frustrating couple of days concerning the care of my Mom. Some people are not doing their job. She is not receiving the level of care that she needs at the Nursing Home. The health care team at the home is dealing with staffing shortages...at least that is one of their excuses.
Some of the excuses that they make do not ring true and no one is accountable. Some of their answers are down right stupid and you know what they say...you can't fix stupid.
Far Side
I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. I know how frustrating it can be at times trying to get people to use their brains.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad your mother has an advocate like you to make sure she's taken care of properly. It's awful to hear about the neglect of our family.
ReplyDeleteIt's very sad that when someone needs care that that it's not really available . You end up doing a lot of what someone else should do.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to read this. She is fortunate to have advocates in her children.
ReplyDeleteEveryone needs an advocate these days--hospitals, rehab, or nursing homes. When my mom was alone in Florida she nearly died in rehab after a car accident from a UTI and no one even noticed. My brother flew down from Minnesota because he could even tell on the phone something was really wrong with her. He couldn't get straight answers from staff and had to demand she be seen by a doctor. She could no longer walk, was incontinent and semi-conscious. Dr immediately put her back in the hospital. My brother stayed down there for quite a long time and flew back and forth. That is why we brought her back to Minnesota where she had family to check on her every day. I have heard so many stories.
ReplyDeleteIf I didn't have Dagan and Leah watching over me I would probably have died alone at home from the cancer care I was getting at Essentia. I am so glad your mom is loved and watched over by family. *love and hugs*
Having to work with STUPID is the hardest thing in the world. It's like beating your head with a stick. I hope it all works out quickly and easy.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry... I find (in this day and time) working with agencies is so frustrating. Hoping for better days!
ReplyDeleteRee is just precious. Sorry abt the nursing experience. Don’t give up. Keep being her voice. Imagine some have no one to advocate for them.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. I wrote a whole book about caring for my parents.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I hope things improve quickly. Your mom is fortunate to have you in her corner.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness she has family nearby to check on the care she is getting or not getting. I hope "stupid" gets smarter....quickly!
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that your Mom isn't getting the care she needs. Sad also that the care home doesn't have enough staff ( IF indeed that is the problem).
ReplyDeleteI hope your mom gets proper care - be that squeaky wheel for her.
ReplyDeleteWE have dealt with this as well - the families have to be on them - I honestly don't believe it is bad employees although some of it could be at least here, there has been a worker shortage in the nursing care industry. My son is a dietician at a Care facility and the turnover of LVNs and other nurses is unreal. The patient suffers when they can't get the proper staffing under control. I do hope, you can do what you need to do -
ReplyDeleteAt least here in California, you can call the Ombudsman for the Care facility to make complaints about the care. I hope that would help you and your mom.
Health care at all levels is under stress from being under staffed, and at nursing home levels, under paid and under trained.
ReplyDeleteBeing your mom's advocate will be important, even though it puts more stress on you.
It’s good that your mom has you around to advocate for her. My dad suffered from neglectful actions when he was in the nursing home too. It was so frustrating
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry about the issues with your Mom. I wouldn't be surprised if staffing is an issue. The pay for the CNA's at those places is usually abysmal, so they don't always get the best people. That isn't always the case because many people work there because they love and care for older people. It's so frustrating and we're starting to think we may be dealing with this with Mom before long. her memory is getting really bad. The least little thing makes her more confused than usual.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and love,
Betsy
Oh I'm so sorry to hear about the problems at the nursing home for your mom. How terribly frustrating that must be. Was it the same when your dad was there? Or are they dealing with less employees now. I hope and pray that things will get better soon.
ReplyDeleteSome things never change and some things remain the same. It has been 23 years since my mom was at a nursing home/rehab facility. I believe that the administration or creator of the facility has good aspirations and excellent goals for care but they don't pay enough or hire enough educated qualified people to carry out that vision. However it hurts the families' hearts and it is not what they signed up for and are paying a LOT of money to receive less than the best or even good.
ReplyDeleteStaff shortages are very real. So much so that in our town we used to have 4 thriving nursing homes with good care.
ReplyDeleteWe now have 1. The folks that ran the other homes decided to go with only assisted living because it was more profitable and less staff to run it.
The pay vs the $ brought in didn't make the homes profitable.
We now have 3 assisted living facilities and one nursing home for the county. Most of us in this area could not afford the assisted living homes.
I don't see any full nursing facilities being around in the next 15 years.
That said, the care my MIL got at the defunct NH was excellent, but I was there almost every day and that makes a huge difference.
:(
We experienced a lot of that when we were trying to find a 'good' place for husband's Aunt Vi. So many of the nursing homes are horrible...no attention, she fell out of bed more than once trying to get to the bathroom because no one had come when she pushed the bell for help. I know she wasn't patient, especially with that, but still...
ReplyDeleteEven when we found and got her into a 'good' place (it was cleaner, prettier, had more friendly staff, the food seemed decent) there was still long lag times between when she pushed the call button and anyone came. I guess the standard average wait time is really long, and some of that is the lack of staff. Really, who wants to work in a place like that anyway? I swear, if I wasn't there every day she'd never have gotten her lunch, which was just a can of Boost (all she would eat for lunch), chocolate, not refrigerated....it wasn't that hard but when I'd get there around 1 9 out of 10 times she hadn't received it and I had to go to the nurses station and get one. She WOULD get the tray of lunch that they served everyone, which she would not eat. After weeks of this you'd think they'd KNOW she wouldn't eat it and just get her the Boost.
Anyway, it's frustrating and I know how infuriating it is. Keep advocating for her, if you don't they'll treat her even worse because they think no one is watching Aunt Vi said the staff was totally different when we were there than when we were not. I believe her.
Having dealt with a doctor and a hospital in southern Iowa, idiots in charge is not a good enough word. I wonder how many people down there would be still alive if they had different people in the health care business there. My mom and my one cousin did not get a fair shake for sure.
ReplyDeleteI worked in an ER for almost three decades. The changes in medicine
ReplyDeleteIn the last few years have become drastic and not for the patients best interest.
Many hospitals were traditionally
not for profit. That is no longer the case.
I remember the hospital telling us that patients were customers not patients.
When you are sick,afraid and weak
you are not a customer.
You are a patient and as a patient you need someone advocating for you.
Your not shopping for shoes.
Your making serious, frightening decisions. A good nurse is the patients
best advocate.
I've seen many patients lives saved because a good experienced nurse caught a error.
COVID came along and crushed the life out of nurses, doctor's, techs.
They were abused and burned out.
People fled healthcare.
I have a friend who was working as a nurse in a nursing home.
She loved her elderly patients and
went above and beyond for them.
She finally had to quit.
They had her and one other nurse
taking care of 45 patients. It's not possible to care for that many patients.
If something goes wrong,it will cost the nurse her license.
This is the reality of health care today.