I would prefer not to give this place a star at all - except that I believe most of the CNA's and the rehab team really cares about their work and the residents. We admitted my mother to this facility in August of 2015. They came recommended by the assisted living community where my mother and father lived (they no longer recommend Canterbury). My mother's health had been declining and she became a high fall risk. So we made the difficult decision to place her at Canterbury as they provide round the clock care and because of its close proximity to my dad where he could easily visit her. We got a positive introduction from the admissions personnel and social worker. That positive assurance was short lived.
Mom was admitted to the rehab wing initially. That went well for the first few months, although locating and talking with a nurse at anytime became a major challenge. They are not easy to locate and don't follow up when you leave a message. However, the CNA's worked their tails off. Over the next few months, we had several family care conferences regarding my mothers condition, including our concern about her feet (my mother was diabetic), her weight loss and difficulty eating because her dentures no longer fit. They rarely followed up with any of our requests to have doctors and dentists help with these areas and often did so only after repeated reminder phone calls. By early November, they notified us they would be moving mom to the long term care wing due to her declining condition, we knew that would eventually be the case but didn't know until after the fact that we could have elected to leave her where she was. We soon discovered that is where they move residents to be ignored until they die. My mother, like many, was neglected once was she was there and frequently begged us to take her out of there. She often sat in soiled clothes after pushing her button for help and waiting for long periods of time for someone to arrive. (I tested this myself while there and waited for 30 minutes). We routinely expressed our concerns that my mom appeared to be losing weight due to her dentures not fitting so it was hard to eat, the foot doctor had not seen her at all despite being assured they would schedule that appointment, the staff doctor had seen her maybe once. Every time one of my family members visited, we had to find a CNA or somebody to help change her or bring back her night stand so she could keep her water nearby and other personal items within reach. Her kidneys were failing and she needed to drink water throughout the day to help them function. We could never get an answer as to why they kept removing her table and water. I'm guessing they have a shortage of adequate patient supplies as well as staff.
On one visit, my sister found my mom with her head down on the dining room table, sleeping because they neglected to wheel her back to her room after lunch. Plus the room she was in was dark all the time and the drapes always drawn because her roommate slept all day. We asked if mom could move to a room where there was more light. They said no because there were no other Medicaid beds available.
On Dec. 4, the social worker called us to say they were concerned about moms condition as she was now down to 80 pounds. By law, these nursing facilities are required to notify a family member anytime a resident loses 3 pounds or more in one week. When they moved my mother to this long term care wing on Nov. 7, she weighed 93 pounds. She lost 13 pounds in one month. No notification before this phone call.
On Dec. 5, around 7:00 pm, I got a phone call from a CNA at Canterbury that they found my mom slumped over in her chair, her face, lips and hands were blue and she was foaming at the mouth and non-responsive. She was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with pneumonia, fever of 104, sepsis and severe dehydration. She was so rigid they could hardly move her. They treated her with fluids and antibiotics and she responded favorably, but died 2 weeks later. I made numerous phone calls to Canterbury the night my mom was taken to the hospital as well as the next day, to get additional information about my mom prior to them finding her. I never got a returned phone call from anybody.
My mother was ill, we knew her health was declining and that eventually we would arrange for hospice. But we didn't expect the place we entrusted to help us care for her to be so neglectful and so uncaring. I would have hoped my mom's last few months would have been better than what she experienced here. I would NEVER recommend Canterbury, particularly the long term care side, to anyone needing to place an ill or elderly family member. read more
