The grounds are lovely and the facility is clean and well-appointed but unfortunately, that's where it ends.
My mother needed short-term rehab to adjust her meds, and some physical and occupational therapy. We brought her there on a Monday and they were not prepared for her, even though I called before we left for the 45 minute drive there. When we got there the nurse's aide made a comment that they did not know she was arriving. When I said I had called beforehand, she said, "They never tell us anything." Awesome. The afternoon nurse was unwelcoming and every time I saw her she basically had a scowl on her face.
Monday through Thursday was uneventful, although the food looked unappetizing. Friday morning at 3:27 am I received a phone call that my mother had fallen while going to the bathroom alone and was being taken to LV Hospital. We well understand that my mother did not summon the nurse with a call bell. They cannot put rails on her bed because that would be considered restraining her. It's the aftermath that is extremely upsetting. Her fall left her with 7 stitches on her forehead, a bruised knee and her neck was fractured in two different places. She needed to be hospitalized for a few days before returning to Kirkland. On Sunday, Kirkland called me to inform me that insurance did not pay them while my mother was in the hospital and did I want to reserve her room for $505 a day? When I declined they said she could come back but they could not guarantee the same room. I said that was fine. They took all her belongings, and threw them in her travel bag and large garbage bags, and left them in the office until someone could pick them up. Mind you, she was returning back on Monday.
Monday when I brought her back she was very weak and I was concerned about her. I continued to ask them to please keep an eye on her because she seemed "off." On Tuesday I called in the morning to check on her and they told me she was "fine" and had her in the dining area. Wednesday afternoon I got there and I could not believe how much she had deteriorated. She was confused, upset, and weak. She was in a wheelchair with food stains on her clothes and piles of books and magazines in her lap. Requests for her meds list were ignored. Around 8 pm that night I tried calling her room and the nurse's station to find out how she was doing. The phones rang for over 45 minutes and NO ONE answered. At one point I called the security number but they were useless because they said she was downstairs and they were upstairs. Finally, I found a different number, and a nurse from a different section left his area to walk to her wing and got someone for me to speak to. That was over 70 minutes from the start of my call.
Thursday morning I called again and was told she was "fine." I later found out that she was behaving EXTREMELY ERRACTICALLY and they never bothered to tell me. My sister went there and asked for a meds list. Do you want to know why my mother was WORSE after being there for over a week and a half? They were giving her ALL THE OLD MEDS PLUS THE NEW ONES.
So she had to be weaned all over again.
She was finally going to be released because her insurance stopped covering the facility. They called on Friday afternoon to let us know she needed to be picked up by Monday. We told them we would pick her up on Sunday, 10/13. Friday evening one of the directors called, Louise. She proceeded to tell my sister and me that they were concerned about my mother being home and not with them, she used tactics like, she may fall and hit her head. Ummmmm... she FELL and hit her head at your place and YOUR people screwed up her meds so badly, she didn't know where she was. They also subtly told my mother she would not be safe at home several times. Sunday morning when my family member arrived to pick her up, my mother was in the hall, her belongings all packed on the floor. Her bed was stripped. They basically told my mother she was no longer a patient there and she had to wait in the hall for her ride home. We never moved my mother out of a building SO FAST.
PS They broke her cervical collar right after she returned from her hospital visit and ordered a replacement. The replacement was 3 sizes too big. They put it on her anyway. They basically said they ordered the right size but the wrong size came. Ok, and?? You put the wrong size on her anyway?? Your people can't read?
After much back and forth, they had a new one at Kirkwood the end of October. You guessed it, the new one was also THE WRONG SIZE. I give up. read more
