March 8, 2013

March 8, 2013
OMG the last 3 days have been emotionally exhausting! My Dad is in The Villages at Southern Hills. All I have to say is… appearances are deceiving. It is not about how a place looks it is about the care you get. The first day Dad was admitted he left St. Francis about 10:30 am. His feeding tube schedule is every 3 hours. I am guessing they fed him about 7:00 am. The Villages did not feed him till 6:00pm that night. He told me he was hungry and I did not leave till they fed him. The nurse told me they were going to give another feeding close to that one. Apparently not checking and assuming on her part and did not know Dad was suppose to be fed every 3 hours instead of 6. I knew my Dad was frustrated and did not want to be there. I called Montereau and they thought they might have a bed available by Monday. Today was the worst day of all. When I came into my Dads room I noticed his feet were covered up. (He does not like them covered because he cannot move his feet.) When I went to uncover them his legs were crossed and twisted up. He then proceeded to tell me one of the aids who had changed his bedding was mean to him and was turning him like he was a rag doll. Dad was mad and upset. I went to talk to the social worker and nursing director. When I got back my Dad had been crying and said he did not want the aid back in his room. He did not know her name and was so upset he could only tell me she had short brown hair. Now I was mad! Today has been a day of going back and forth between nursing director/social workers etc. And it appears Montereau does not have any beds. I then went to Senior Suites and they do not have a bed either. I considered sending him back to the hospital because I did not want at The Villages if he was being mistreated. You know when you tell them this they treat you like you making this up and this person would not be capable of this. In the end I had to settle with them moving my Dad to a different room and that the aid, Sheila would not be allowed to come near my Dad. This is the weekend and I have nowhere to take him to. He needs skilled nursing and rehab that I cannot provide him. I told the social worker we would take it a day at a time since I cannot do anything over the weekend. I took him to the Villages because I could not get him back in Montereau and the Villages were suppose to have a good therapy team. Thank you Mary for sitting with gramps while I did the bed chase.

March 5, 2013
Dad will be going to skilled nursing tomorrow at The Villages of Southern Hills. It is at 57th Lewis. Dad has had some really good nurses at St Francis this time. But one of his nurses was Awesome… her name was Hillary. I usually do not brag too much on just one but this one was so wonderful with Dad. I knew when she was his nurse that I did not have to worry I knew he was in the best of care. She went the extra mile. Dad has to be fed with a feeding tube so at this time he does not have the pleasure of eating like the rest of us. He would tell his nurses that he was getting tired of eating Vanilla Boost and he would like Chocolate. They would tell him they could not get it in chocolate. (I am sure they thought it did not matter… how could he taste it anyway. But he could taste it because he would sometime belch it and he would always make a face and say “Eww Vanilla” Anyway today when I walked in the room there was chocolate boost which Hillary had went through the dietician and ordered just for Dad. Not only that the Villages could not get his food for a couple days from their supplier and so Hillary got the doctor to order up enough for 2 days to send with him (chocolate as well) to the new place he is going. Hillary not only does her job flawlessly but she is compassionate and goes the extra mile to make a difference in the lives of others. A rarity in the medical field these days. It’s not just a job she really cares. Kudos Hillary… your tops in our books …don’t ever change! Your one of a kind!