My father lives at Linden House now. He has been there a year. The first 6 months he was still self…read morecare, remembered to bathe and change his clothing. However, his bed was hardly ever made and trash would pile up. I complained once about this to the director, I saw a brief improvement, and then a few Covid cases hit the facility and both staff and residents were affected. Residents were having to eat in their rooms on disposable plates and food and trash were piling up. I live close by, so I would go frequently and clean his room, putting the trash in bags piled up outside his door. After all of this was over, and things settled some, I did see things getting somewhat better, at least with trash pickup. When norovirus hit the facility in February, my father's dementia was already worsening. He had an incident of diarrhea in the dining room. He continued to not be able to make it to the bathroom in his room, and the staff did an excellent job of taking care of him and cleaning him up, and cleaning his room and carpet. We were told several residents had the same symptoms. My husband and I were concerned and visited with gloves and masks. We expressed concern about the caretakers and other residents, because no one was placed in isolation and my father continued to go to the dining room even though his symptoms lasted several days. His aids told us that the isolation of residents needed to come from their superiors.
At this point, my father's dementia worsens weekly, and we have a schedule, with the staff to help him bathe and change his clothing 3 times a week. We feel we have to continually keep on top of it, because I find that if I relax at all, my father will not get bathed or get his clothing changed. I have found that doing my father's laundry myself, has been very telling. One week he went 5 days without a change of clothes even though he had showered. Anytime I suggest that maybe more caretakers are needed on day shift to get everything done, I am told that they have plenty of staff, and they will be "spoken to". The director and director of wellness have both stopped answering my emails.
Another concern to think about if considering the Linden House is physical safety. As my father's dementia has worsened, and he has no idea that the pendant around his neck can be pushed for help, and as his knee continues to hurt and give out on him, and he forgets that he needs to use a walker, we requested he be monitored closer. We asked if we could put a non recording video with audio in his bedroom, in case he falls during the night, someone (my husband and myself), would hear him calling out. We were told the policy is we could have a non recording video, but no audio. Well, that would defeat the whole purpose, because we would have the audio in our room at night, while we were asleep, so we could hear him call out. Just like you would use a baby monitor. The compromise was that he would get every two hour checks. Our problem is trusting that the checks will actually happen, since there seems to be very little oversight to patient care.
As to why we don't move him. #1 he is only 5 minutes from my house, #2 it would be very hard for him to move to a new place with his worsening dementia and he seems happy at Linden House. He doesn't notice not changing clothing or his bed not made, or if he doesn't get a shower. #3 there would be no guarantee that the grass would be greener anywhere else. I will just have to resolve the fact that I must keep on top of things and people will listen.
Some good things about Linden House: I have found the aids to be kind and seem to know my father. The physical therapists and occupational therapists are awesome and excellent!!
