THE FACILITY
My grandchild has been a patient at the Sacramento facility for nearly a year due to TBI from a car crash in 2024.
When faced with the decision of placement for her I was terrified by all the horror stories of abuse and neglect on the internet. When the hospital told me my granddaughter had received visits from a pair of nurses, I was confused and had no idea who they were at the time.
As the deadline to choose placement arrived I was given a list of 3 options that would accept her and the insurance coverage she had. I decided to make unannounced visits to each one beginning with Quiescence in Sacramento, and chose a Saturday evening to pop in.
As one of my main concerns is security from unwanted visitors, I was immediately pleased to see it is a secured property with a gate access and a locked main door.
Upon entering I got a nose full of the delicious aromas from the home cooked dinner that had been prepared earlier. The chef was in the kitchen area doing clean up and a male patient was sitting at the dinner table watching her.
I was greeted by a smiling young male nurse, who seemed a bit nervous when I asked if I could "just look around" he explained that his supervisor was on her way and asked if I could wait for her. I agreed but asked if I could ask him some basic questions about the facility, (I found a list of questions on a web-search) again reluctant he said "I will answer what I know about the rest you will have to ask my supervisor".
From his responses I found that he was the newest staff member and had been with the facility already for 2 years, he loved his coworkers, and his boss, and considered the patients as family. He had to excuse himself to check on a patient and left me in the Livingroom area seated on a very comfortable couch, hanging from the vaulted ceiling was a huge glass chandelier. The room had a fireplace and looked nothing like a medical facility!
In the brief time I waited I was approach by 2 other staff members to make sure I was comfortable and didn't need anything (glass of water etc.) Soon the supervisor arrived, from the greeting I learned that she was returning from a home visit with a patient that had recently discharged to home.
I introduced myself and decided to share my granddaughter's condition to assure they were equipped to care for her. This is when she shared it was she and another nurse who had visited the hospital to assess their ability to help my grandchild recover. I asked my questions and learned that when her boss left his previous employment to open Care Homes by RNs she followed him and has never regretted the choice.
During our conversation I was shown a huge room, with double doors that opened onto a private patio, a huge private bathroom with an open walk in shower that allows access by assistive devices. The furnishings were minimal but adequate as patient families are encouraged to make the room as homelike as they wish. Patients are even encouraged to wear their own clothing which can be laundered on site.
THE STAFF
The owner, Ron, is the on-site physician and oversees the care of each patient. In my granddaughter's case his overly cautious nature proved to be very beneficial to her health.
Ron, like his staff members, spends enough one on one time with my grandchild that he instantly knows if something is medically amiss, and immediately starts looking for the problem. Once when this happened it turned out to be a medical issue that had been misdiagnosed and in turn mistreated by the hospital. When Ron examined her, the blood count suggested she was bleeding, he called me to advise me of the situation and we agreed he would monitor her for a few hours. The test results fluctuated throughout the day, by the end of the day he decided to err on the side of caution, and had her transported to the hospital where she could receive a transfusion if needed.
The head nurse, is also the administrator, and expert with insurance problems, When a technical error revoked our insurance she not only helped me get it back on track but worked directly with the insurance to cover the costs incurred during the lapse in coverage. During the peak of this problem she and Ron met with me privately to discuss my options and to my amazement they put my grandchild above the financial aspect of the facility, as I left in tears of gratitude they each hugged me. A few days later Ron was outside as I arrived, giving a tour to a group of people, he stopped his tour mid sentence to come give me another very warm reassuring hug before returning to the group.
The nursing supervisor is specially trained in wound care, she successfully and quickly treated and healed a bed sore my grandchild arrived with.
A young female nurse does personal care she does my grandchild's bathing, styles her hair and exercises her limbs. she even sends me video recordings of new accomplishments in recovery.
My grandchild adores the entire staff, and they adore her! read more
