NIGHTMARE AT PORTER PLACE
As a nurse for 20 years, I must admit that Porter Place is the most poorly ran facility I have ever encountered. I refuse to allow another family to go through what my mother and I experienced at Porter Place without A WARNING. My mother WENT THROUGH HELL and dealing with the staff took up so much of my time and effort as a nurse and her Advocate that I felt as if I worked at the facility.
ADMINISTRATORS AND LACK OF OVERSIGHT: The top administrators, the executive director, Yosanne W.; the director of nursing, Kathyrn P.; and the ADON, Charli M. are not committed to providing quality care, nor do they have the experience and knowledge of what that actually looks like. I know this because after numerous complaints on the lack of quality care my mother was receiving, the subpar care continued over a period of months. After I placed a camera into my mother's room, I found out that the lack of care was worse than I thought. The caregivers were not even providing basic care to my mom. They were not cueing or assisting her with her morning ADLs - washing her face or brushing her teeth. Oftentimes she was not receiving her showers or even asked if she wanted one.
I was nice enough to label my mother's dresser drawers to make it easy for the staff to help Mom get dressed in the morning. Yet, some caregivers omitted her bra, wig and some days her socks. When I repeatedly mentioned this to the DON, her response to me was, "Well, I have relayed this information to the staff, it is on them to follow through!" Say what?!? You mean to tell me that a person can come here, and get paid for not doing their job? Of course, I received no response.
I have also witnessed the caregiver staff walk around with ear pods in their ear, listening to music, talking on the phone, arguing and cursing to whomever is on the phone while working. I have had to tell one young lady to turn her music off as she had it blaring on her phone while trying to help get my mother dressed.
HIGH TURNOVER ALERT: The staff turnover rate is extremely high. As a nurse who has managed a facility myself, huge staff turnover is a telltale sign that something is wrong with the administration. My mother lived at Porter Place for 14 months and 90% of the staff has changed multiple times, including the top administrators mentioned above. Yosanne and Kathyrn are new and Charli recently left the facility. This very expensive facility will hire anyone off the street to work as a caregiver, mostly "unqualified and with no experience." In fact, Porter Place does not require their caregivers to be Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) which is ridiculous. Families pay a premium for their loved one's care and they hire high school grads and other young people with no experience and provide them with 3 days of "on computer" training to take care of our loved ones. Dementia/Alzheimer's residents require specialized care from employees who are specifically trained to handle different types of behaviors; and, who are capable of patience and professionalism.
Most of the nurses are new LPN grads and PRN or as needed nurses. The few good nurses they had when we first moved in, left. When asked why did they leave, their response was they could not take it anymore. The top administrators' haphazard way of running a facility is bound to run the best employees away.
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Porter is very expensive as they have multiple levels of care. If families are paying $8,000 - $10,000 a month, we deserve to have qualified and vetted personnel working with our loved ones. I found out through another nurse that Porter Place doesn't even bother to check references of their newly hired staff. She was hired on the same day as her interview. This is one of the reasons for the huge staff turnover. They will hire anyone who needs a job and when that person finds something better, they quit.
LACK OF CONTINUITY: Every morning, my mother had a different caregiver in her room. There is no continuity of care and to make it worse, the regional manager, Nick T. told me it doesn't matter because they have dementia.
LEVELS OF CARE OR A HOLE IN YOUR POCKET? Porter will accept your loved one at a lower level of care to get you moved in, and in a few months, they will go up on the level of care claiming that your loved one is requiring more of their staffs' time. They use a point system. The more points the more money and it is all subjective as the ADON or DON decides how many points to give your loved one. It does not mean more staff is on the schedule, only that your loved one requires more attention or redirection. For example, your loved one may have to be told to come and eat dinner 3-4 times as opposed to one time. They will use any excuse to charge more money. The point system is designed to nickel and dime you into the poor house.
I will try to continue my review. read more