My father is in a memory care unit. He was on a floor with 1 aide for 20 patients. My father was pretty much left on his own. He is to the point he needs a wheelchair. I was told he would have to be eventually put in unit where there was 1 aide per 10 patients because he would need more care. Now my father has been moved and left to sit. The past 2 weeks there has been at times only 1 aide per 20 needy patients. The aides don’t show up. One day he was left in his wheelchair for 5 1/2 hours in the dining room. Another night he was left for 3:5 hours in the dining room. He is 94 years old and recently had double pneumonia and is very weak. He has a recliner in his bedroom. Sometimes he’s put in the recliner and not checked on for hours because of lack of aides. He wears depends and I think it’s pretty bad that his slacks eventually have to be changed during the day because his depends are wet and leak onto his slacks.
I have brought some issues to the director of the building and the head of nursing but things don’t change. They are the ones who told me to have my dad moved to the other part of the building. I am basically ignored about any issues and have been told that I have high expectations. No- I just want my dad taken care of properly.
I don’t know who I can talk with to rectify matters. Unfortunately In this area as one memory care manager who had been brought in from another city to “fix” a facility told me there are no good memory care centers in the area.
Has anyone else gone thru this and somehow has gotten it rectified?
This whole experience breaks my heart. It’s bad enough to deal with the dementia.........
This link has the phone number you need.
Im sorry you and your dad are in this position.
Take a trusted friend with you to visit your dad and help you document his living conditions. You must remain poker faced because, if they discover that you're filming their care, they will try to stop you.
Only document you with your father; do not take pictures of anyone else. You can take pictures of him in his room, and of the outside of the building from the road. Be cautious.
This will not be easy but you must stay strong for your father's sake. Once you have a few visits worth of documentation, go in person to your Congressman's office and to your local paper, and notify the ombudsman.
I don't know exactly what I would do with the "evidence" but I would raise holy hell. I would even consider hiring an attorney. I'm sure others will weigh in and help you formulate a plan. This is so sad and I understand your righteous anger.
I would also contact the local area on aging and report to them and ask who to report to. Ask them to be sure and report this as well.
This is totally unacceptable, 1 to 20 ratio is not realistic in the least. Memory care is because they need more help, I would probably look at moving him and moving him to a nursing home.
This just makes me so angry that people can treat other humans like this.
If there is no satisfaction this gets reported to the state and would start with an ombudsman first.
If you have documentation or if there have been accidents due to under staffing that can be reported as well.
Each state has an Ombudsman that you can report/file complaints with.