Our experience at The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Pawling was deeply disappointing and, at…read moretimes, alarming. The facility also appeared poorly maintained, which immediately raised concerns about the level of care. I was surprised by its overall condition when I first arrived. I would not recommend this facility to anyone with a loved one requiring skilled nursing or rehabilitation.
My husband was admitted to The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Pawling for rehabilitation after a prolonged hospitalization. Because of his medical condition, we were promised a private room before admission. Instead, he was placed in a semi-private room with another patient who was visibly coughing and appeared ill. Within two days, my husband developed a cough, and I had to insist that he be moved to the private room we had originally been promised.
Upon admission, my husband also missed several important medications because the facility did not have them available. We were told they would get them the next day, which was unacceptable. Even the following day, some of the medications still were not given, and we later found out that the nurse manager had not even looked in the refrigerator where they had been stored.
During his stay, we experienced multiple incidents that raised serious concerns about patient safety and the quality of care. Medication was administered when it should not have been, and an IV medication was administered through the wrong port of his PICC line. On another day, an on-call nurse came in to administer his IV medication dressed in leggings and a tank top, and she disconnected the IV before the infusion was complete. When I pointed it out, she simply responded, "My bad," and had to reconnect it and finish administering the medication.
I also repeatedly observed a nurse providing care without wearing gloves. The nurse who was not wearing gloves was the same nurse who said, "Can we call this good?" about the IVs before the IV infusion had finished because it was taking longer than expected to drip. It appeared she did not know how to operate the IV pump properly. I reported these concerns to the Assistant Director of Nursing, the Director of Nursing, and the Administrator. I also filed a complaint with the Department of Health and contacted the Long-Term Care Ombudsman. Despite bringing these concerns to leadership, I did not feel they were taken seriously or appropriately addressed. I also informed them that I did not want the nurse in question caring for my husband because I believed she posed a risk to patient safety.
One conversation with the Director of Nursing was especially troubling. When I expressed my concerns, she told me, "People come here with too high expectations." I responded, "Should we have low expectations?" I reported that conversation to the Administrator, but nothing changed.
The response time to call bells was unacceptable. My husband frequently waited as much as two hours after hitting the call bell to be cleaned after episodes of bowel incontinence caused by prolonged IV antibiotic treatment. These delays resulted in skin irritation and unnecessary discomfort. On several occasions, I had to assist the aides in cleaning him because there were not enough staff members available. We had been assured the facility could safely care for patients requiring two-person assistance, but that was not our experience.
Because I had so little confidence in the care being provided, I felt I had no choice but to spend approximately 15 hours each day at the facility to ensure my husband received even the most basic care and attention. No family member should have to do that.
It was heartbreaking to hear another resident repeatedly crying out for help. The resident was also verbally abusive to the nurses, but I understood it because they were equally abusive back to him, and he was frustrated about not receiving his medication on time or getting a response when he hit the call bell. They made him seem crazy, but they were driving him crazy. No patient deserves to be treated that way.
Our discharge was equally chaotic. We were sent home with IV medications but without the necessary supplies to prepare and administer them. When I called the facility to report the error and ask for assistance, no one--including the Administrator--would speak with me. I personally overheard the Administrator say, "I'm not talking to her." The next day, I drove 30 minutes back to the facility to obtain the missing supplies, only to be told they did not even have the equipment we needed.
Families place an enormous amount of trust in rehabilitation facilities during some of the most difficult times in their lives. We expected safe medical care, timely assistance, professionalism, and accountability. Instead, we encountered repeated safety concerns, poor communication, and what felt like a pattern of dismissing serious concerns raised by patients and their families.
Based on our experience, I cannot recommend.
