My father was their first patient. He was a Parkinson's patient in the end stage of the disease with hospice care. He was there for 4 1/2 months. We were forced to move him with a 27 day notice in violation of our contract. We were forced to move him at a very critical point that put him through unnecessary pain and suffering. As a result my father went into distress within 6 hours, then died 7 hours later. It was a horrible experience. I voiced my concern to one of the owners that I feared my father would not make it through another move. His hospice nurse confirmed that as well.
The main caregiver there personally told me the following:
"The reason we were forced to move was in part retaliatory because they said I was a headache to them for voicing my concerns about some improper care he received, and that they were not supposed to have a bed bound patient anyway, as an assisted living facility. But they accepted him because they said they needed the business and my father needed a place."
I even pleaded for another month to find a place bc my husband at that time was trying to find a home for his mother who had just suffered a heart attack and kidney failure and was in a hospital in critical condition ICU. But they did not respond. They said they could no longer cater to his needs and that he needed to be in a skilled nursing facility.
When my father's main caregiver went on leave, they hired unlicensed, untrained people who didn't even know what parkinson's was, and didn't care for him properly according to my father's hospice nurse who was in observance. He was left with dirty diapers and had developed sores on his bottom. The hospice bather reported that my father's clothes, towels and sheets had not been washed when the unlicensed, untrained people were on duty.
More examples of elder abuse by main caregiver:
1)She was seen by the hospice Chaplin outside of the care home in her car with a friend smoking cigarettes. So how long was she out there and how many more times was she doing that, in addition to the shopping instance when she was caught. Without surveillance cameras, no one knows bc the owners were hardly ever there. They lived at another residence.
2)During the winter freeze when power was lost, she would go in the garage to warm up using the car heater while my father was left alone in the house with no heat. Again, on how many occasions and for how long.
3)There were a few instances when the caregiver asked to leave to get some personal items and told me she would be back in approximately 15 to 20 minutes, but was gone a hour or more, leaving me alone with my father.
4)A bed bound patient should NEVER be left alone in the home for ANY reason! My father was cognitively impaired, and speech impaired, so he would not be able to call out for assistance to be heard, nor would he possibly be able to understand if his caregiver was not in the home. And leaving him alone is taking advantage of these impairments and qualifies for abuse of the elderly under the definitions of neglect and abandonment per elder care law.
5)After the move, I found that two of my fathers pillows had urine and feces stains.
6)Kitchen was often dirty with black dirt/grease stained sponges used to hand wash the dishes and utensils. The dishwasher was never used to properly clean and sanitize. read more
