What we have here is a failure to communicate!

My DH is off this week and went to see his 94 yr old father at the nursing home today. He/we go every Tues & Fri on our regular days off. Yesterday, we were in Greenville for my dr's appt. Last Fri, I was alarmed and recognized Pop's breathing was very labored. I asked for assistance and a couple CNA's repositioned him, raising the head of his bed. Late that night, I got a call that Pop had been transported to the hospital for observation because he just wasn't himself. As always, I reiterated that no matter what time of day or night, call us and keep us informed. We have often got up and spent half the night in the ER with him to have him be sent back to the nursing home with med changes. We live about an hour away from the hospital and nursing home.

This time, Pop was admitted on Friday night with congestive heart failure and NOBODY bothered to call. He's been there since. We are very diligent about informing the nursing staff of any changes in our routine and they know we have our cell phones next to us at all times. I spoke with the head of nursing who offered her deepest apologies and swears this will never happen again. I asked her to make it standing orders for us to be called regardless of the time of day, with a follow up from the next shift.

I feel emotionally exhausted over this. My DH is now calling his siblings to let them know Pop is not doing well and they need to get home to see him soon.

thanks for listening and letting me explode...venting is not enough...

Kristi

So sorry for you and yours. Went thru this once with my Mom's nursing home and then her transferred to another. EVERYONE knew we were to get called with any status change since my Mom had Alzheimer's. She was admitted to hospital and doctors said she needed a colonoscopy-NOT. They tried 3 x'x to do colonoscopy, but her colon was always full of food. Seemed my Mom would roam the halls at hospital and find food after she was not to eat. I went ballistic on Doctor, hospital staff and nursing staff. When I arrived in FL I even went to hospital admin with signed HIPPA and DNR, and POW originals to verify that I was to get called to approve any and all treatment.
Prayers for you and yours and may your Pop find peace and recovery.

Hugs Kristi and vent away. It's hard when you have family in the nursing home and something happens and the staff doesn't call. Ugh!
Hang in there, I have been through this several times and I too had to keep reminding the staff to call me no matter what time/day. I killed them with kindness, bringing the staff treats and thanking them, once I did that it did get better. But you just want to slap em!
I hope your Pop is doing better now or at least is peaceful and getting some rest.
Sending you hugs and prayers.

Kristi, I am so sorry for you and your DH. I'm sure it makes you both feel helpless. Just keep pressing on and hoping someone finally gets the message and makes sure everyone knows!!
You are all in my prayers.

I'm not sure who to vent about...Onslow Memorial for having him in there all this time and not bothering to call, or Carebridge for not letting us now OMH had admitted him. DH is the POA and my number is the contact. Not the 1st time I've had to go toe to to with OMH. They "lost" a whole insulated bag of Pop's meds about 8-9 years ago when he was transported there to the ER. They blamed it on the resue squad techs. I contacted that source and they faxed me proof that they had handed over the meds with a signature of a ER nurse. After numerous phone calls and missing a day of work to find this bag, I walked into the ER and with my cell phone in my hand, told them they had 5 minutes to find it or I was calling Channel 12 News and JD News...more bad press. They handed it to me over the counter right then...unbelievable! They had it all the time and knew were it was but preferred to jerk me around. Then they asked me for ID. I told them I was the totally p.o'd woman who had been calling them all day and was on the verge of filing criminal charges of theft and mishandling controlled substances.