My father was at this facility at the end of his l...

My father was at this facility at the end of his life. Dad had an LVAD, which is a heart pump inside his chest and a driveline coming out of his stomach and connected to a monitor and machine to power the machine. Dad had very little mobility when he arrived. He could barely hold a cup and sip from a straw.

1. His button to the nurse s station did not work, so they gave him a bell to ring.

2. During a sterile procedure to change his driveline bandage, a nurse left the room. Translation: she contaminated the sterile environment, greatly raising the chance for infection.

3. An anchor bandage meant to take the weight off his driveline in the event his monitor fell was never engaged on at least two occasions, causing the line to pull at the site where it enters his body and made the site bleed. I was told the anchor bandage was engaged and must have come undone. I was trained by Penn Presbyterian on how to care for my Dad s LVAD needs and have no doubt the anchor was never engaged..

4. On numerous occasions Dad s legs were dangling off the bed. Being connected to a machine from your stomach would have been nothing less than a painful death for Dad if he had slid completely off the bed and to the floor.

5. After asking the nurse manager to put rails up on Dad s bed so he wouldn t try to slide his legs out, I was told it was against NJ law. After pressing him (for what may have been a minute) he finally admitted he didn t know if it was NJ law, but passed the buck to his supervisor, saying she told him it was law. When asked if he knew which law to which his supervisor was referring, he did not. Two minutes earlier he was quick to tell me it was law. What a difference a few well placed questions make.

6. I came in the day after asking the nurse manager about rails for Dad s bed. When I arrived, Dad s legs were hanging off the bed and the machine powering his heart was hanging about halfway off the dresser on which it sat.

7. I could go on, but will end it with this: On the morning of 9 March 2018, at approximately 8:43am, I received a phone call from CareOne, Evesham. I was told that my father had expired. Like ground chuck or yogurt, my Dad had expired. I will never forget those words.

Now CareOne will respond with a message saying how they are devoted to the care of our loved ones. Save it. Talk to your staff. Save other families the emotional stress and drop your LVAD facility status until your staff is able to handle these delicate patients. Offer unsolicited care. We shouldn t have to tell you what to do.

JSA