4 years ago
I had a family member there for 3 weeks. After ju...
I had a family member there for 3 weeks. After just over 2 weeks (on a Sunday) I helped him to bathe and shave, they never did, not once, in the whole time he was there, offer to bathe him or help him bathe himself. 3 weeks!. There was one communal shower room in his wing. Dirty adult diapers on the back of the toilet. The toilet was dirty and unflushed. Both shower stalls wet, visibly soiled with feces, wet towels and old soiled bandages on the floor. Clean towel caddy was empty. The shower chairs were filthy. I told an aid it was too dirty to bathe in there. An hour later nothing had been done so I went home and got some clean towels, washcloths, disinfectants (and flip-flops for him to wear so his feet wouldn't come in contact the floor). Afterward we were both pretty upset by the filth even though precautions were taken and I thoroughly cleaned his stall and shower chair before and after we used them. I've used port-a-potties that looked and smelled cleaner. We found this was a problem all over. His bed didn't get changed for days even when the sheets were visibly soiled with spilled food. More than once he asked for help to use the restroom and waited more than 45 minutes, resulting in incontinence. Asking the staff to clean the shower room, or answer his calls sooner, or clean his room, or the restroom he shared with a room mate - that was always soiled - more often wasn't met with anything positive no matter how nicely we asked. Requests of that nature always resulted in an argumentative denial of shortcoming and lack of improvement. They were, however, extremely vigilant about making sure his trash was emptied very often. I was there with him at least twice a day. I feel sorry for the patients who have no one making sure they are being treated like human beings. The smell walking through the hallways is sometimes OK, sometimes it's OMFG! The food is typical institutional fare; seems to be the cheapest possible and mostly pre-made, reheated and served luke-warm. Are any of these places ever supportive of dignity and internal well-being? (The PT staff were exceptional. The nursing were also very good. The administrative staff were helpful.)