She was recenlty hospitalized with a severe UTI. After they tested her, they determined she had sepsis. It seems to me the Nursing Home waited much too long to get her care for her UTI. Why wasn't she sent to the hospital sooner is my concern? She had obviously been ill for quite awhile. Family members noticed her lethargy and she had all but stopped eating and drinking liquids as she was severely dehydrated when she was admitted.
In the second nursing home for my father, where I visited him daily, I once went to the nurse for a second three-ounce cup of thickened water for him, who was extremely thirsty that day. She refused it although there was water on the med cart she was attending. I reported the incident to the facility's social worker, who dismissed the matter by saying that the facility owed the nurse a lot. You can read these incidents and many more heartwrenching ones in Before the Door Closes: A Daughter's Journey with Her Alcoholic Father.
In mom's room I keep my own thermometer, stethoscope, BP cuff and fingertip pulse oximeter, plus there is a bathroom scale. I take readings and keep a log on the table near by.
If they see the tools and they see you know how to use them, they will take you seriously.