Nursing home neglect reportedly led to amputation

Hillcrest West and Serene Manor, both need state inspections NOW. I have seen things there that are to disgusting to talk about. There are helpless people, suffering in both of these places, all the time.

thats what Hillcrest West just had...a state inspection. and they failed miserably. 4 jeapordy tags?? dear god thats horrible!

The article talks of that patient that developed a bed sore and that Hillcrest staff didnt notice the wound until it was at a Stage 4 (the worst stage which means it is into the muscle and bone). She didnt receive the proper amount of nutrition because they repeatedly skipped her tube feedings and hydration by not giving her the water ordered by the doctor.

There is no excuse for treatment like that! None!!!

The article also says Pointer says she's gotten rid of agency nurses. That is so not true~!! they use tons of agency staff.

The problem with Hillcrest is that the people who run the company are corrupt. Pointer was personally hired by Terry who also moved Suzette Williamson into administration in the company. Williamson is nothing but pure evil. Ask anyone that has worked for the company before.

The problem is that administration makes CNAs take care of at least 24 patients a shift. who can care for that many patients???? The nurses are worked just as much, having to care for 48 patients. How much time do you think can be devoted to actual patient care if your patient load is that large? because of that, patients can't be monitored as they should. the use of agency staff..CNAs and nurses (who are awesome btw) but they don't report to them so they don't know who needs to be transferred with a lift, who needs a body alarm...so of course these injuries happen! it's not the fault of the staff working their tails off to try to take care of the patients as well as they can...its the administration who short staffs their facilities that is the cause!

Pointer attempts to downplay the state survey saying that patients are not in actual jeapordy. the state surveyors do not give those tags out lightly. a case such as this patient is a true jeapordy.

nothing will change at Hillcrest until their administration changes. this is the type of care your loved ones will receive if you place them there.

before you put your loved one in a facility...investigate the place. go at different hours of the day, go on the weekends, how does it smell? you expect to possibly smell urine or BM if you pass a room where the patient has just had either but if the overall facility itself smells...walk away fast. when you go...dont tell them who you are...just walk around and watch. I promise you if you do this at Hillcrest you wouldnt put a loved one there.

I've worked there in the past. I'm not a "disgruntled employee" either. I left there on good terms. I'm just sorry I didnt leave sooner.

It is very apparent that you are not very involved in the survey process. If you were well informed and educated about the survey process it would be apparent. Mrs. Williamson is one of the only bright spots at Hillcrest. She cares very deeply about her residents and has a very very good reputation with the state. Her survey was great and she runs a tight ship. It appears that she upset you by demanding top quality care, which you were not providing.
The results at HCW are horrible and nothing new if you examine the last 2 years or so. Closing the doors maybe in order.

Briarcliff in Oak Ridge is yet another place that needs to be closed down.

My dad was sent there to recover after hip replacement and they refused to let him up out of his bed and they refused him his physical therapy. He developed bed sores and nearly cost him both of his feet. It took my mother and I nearly a year to get his feet cleaned up.

Those people refused my dad's doctors orders and would not give him the medical care ordered by his doctor.

The first thing a person should look for when looking for a health care center is if patients are out of their beds and walking around the wards. If there is nobody up walking the wards usually means the staff try to keep them in their beds. You really can't go by smell as some of them mix their Alzheimer’s patients in with their regular patients. Then again some facilities try to keep the Alzheimer’s on a ward by themselves and the smell isn't as bad.

I have made my mother a promise which is that I will not ever put her in a Nursing home Period. I tried to get my dad sent directly home after his surgery but his Doctor felt it was best for him to go into a Nursing Home for his therapy. Boy was that ever a very BIG mistake.

Almost like the V.A.

DKF1968 wrote:

It is very apparent that you are not very involved in the survey process. If you were well informed and educated about the survey process it would be apparent. Mrs. Williamson is one of the only bright spots at Hillcrest. She cares very deeply about her residents and has a very very good reputation with the state. Her survey was great and she runs a tight ship. It appears that she upset you by demanding top quality care, which you were not providing.
The results at HCW are horrible and nothing new if you examine the last 2 years or so. Closing the doors maybe in order.

Susette? that you?

Montrose 1973 wrote:

Almost like the V.A.

Almost the VA still has most of them beat. And to think this is exactly the type of national health care both Billary and Obama ben Ladan want us to have.

Jim Hayden wrote:

You really can't go by smell as some of them mix their Alzheimer’s patients in with their regular patients. Then again some facilities try to keep the Alzheimer’s on a ward by themselves and the smell isn't as bad.
.

What does smell have to do with anything?

It is really sad at the treatment of these older people that are sent off to nursing homes a lot of times just to be got out of the way. They work their whole lives and then end up here and the workers treat them like dirt. I have seen workers yell at residents and talk to them like they are trash. I volunteered a couple of times with the rec dept at a nursing home hear my house. I only done it a couple of times because I could not handle watching these people being talked to like that. The girl I was under when I volunteered - most of the time I wanted to smack her. She was rude and insensitive to the needs of these people.
They are lonely and just want to see their families who are too busy to stop by and see them.
I also know there are lots of times when medical care is delayed or denied because the workers want to act like the residents are just complaining or it's just too much of a bother for them to look into something. If you are not the type of person who loves to work with older people and are very patient and understanding then why on earth would you get a job working in those circumstances???
I would rather just die than to ever have to go to a nursing home. It's one of the saddest places on Earth!

Hello wrote:

<quoted text>
What does smell have to do with anything?

Some people get offended at the smell in some of those places. They associate smell with how dirty a place is or isn't.

Alzheimer’s patients are some of the nastiest people. They forget how to eat and they forget how to go to the bathroom when they need to relieve themselves. It is the disease and not the patient themselves. Most of them forget how to feed themselves as the slowly over years starve themselves to death. They know something is going on only they have forgotten what to do about it.

They get extremely aggressive at the same time. Yes I have taken care of an Alzheimer's patient. It is hard enough trying to care for one of them now imagine an entire ward of them. It is no easy task.

In other words smell has nothing to do with how clean a place is or isn't. Some people who have never had to be around an Alzheimer's patient don't know that and they simply assume that it does.

There is a man who is allowed to roam the halls at night at Serene Manor and he undresses poor women, who don't even know where they are and crawls into bed with them. My friend put his grandmother there last year and the next morning he found her naked in bed and her clothes over next to the door. She could not walk so she did not take her clothes over to the door. He said she couldn't dress or undress herself either. He moved her right then. A nurse, who works there liked him and told him, sshe did not want to lose her job, but to take his grandmother out of there.

I use to volunteer to visit people at these homes and Shannondale on Middlebrook Pike is a bad place too. I saw a worker slap an old lady across the face and I called her out on it, the other nurses took up for her and nothing was done. My daughter was a candy striper there and she said an old lady got a broken bone from a worker and it was told to her family, that she fell in the shower. My mother will never be put in a nursing home or should we start calling them "hellholes" nursinghome just don't fit the bill.

Oh and Mr. Hayden, you should not be knocked over with the smell of urine, when you open the front door of an two or three story nursing home. I know the very young and the very old have problems, there and to smell an accident that has happened recently or even go by a room or certain floor or ward is expeced. I saw how and why you smell it so strng in places, you should not. They also have body lice at HCW and have since the 80's. It is a shame these poor helpless people have to go somewhere like this to wait to die, I ould guess that many pray for death, I know I would.

Congkiller wrote:

There is a man who is allowed to roam the halls at night at Serene Manor and he undresses poor women, who don't even know where they are and crawls into bed with them. My friend put his grandmother there last year and the next morning he found her naked in bed and her clothes over next to the door. She could not walk so she did not take her clothes over to the door. He said she couldn't dress or undress herself either. He moved her right then. A nurse, who works there liked him and told him, sshe did not want to lose her job, but to take his grandmother out of there.

The nurse who chose her job over protecting her resident needs to work as a bartender. She does not need to be a resident advocate. She failed in her duty to protect and do no harm.

Congkiller wrote:

Hillcrest West and Serene Manor, both need state inspections NOW. I have seen things there that are to disgusting to talk about. There are helpless people, suffering in both of these places, all the time.

Have you called the state. If not please call 18655885656. Be a part of the solution and not part of the problem. Have facts for the surveyors, don't just call with rants. Have names, dates and times.

bella wrote:

<quoted text>
Susette? that you?

Nope. Just know her.

Congkiller wrote:

Oh and Mr. Hayden, you should not be knocked over with the smell of urine, when you open the front door of an two or three story nursing home. I know the very young and the very old have problems, there and to smell an accident that has happened recently or even go by a room or certain floor or ward is expeced. I saw how and why you smell it so strng in places, you should not. They also have body lice at HCW and have since the 80's. It is a shame these poor helpless people have to go somewhere like this to wait to die, I ould guess that many pray for death, I know I would.

Congkiller the smell is normal for an Alzheimer's ward. No I personally do not find it offensive like some people do. What I personally find offensive is the neglect and the abuses these poor patients are forced to endure.

I will never allow my mother to be placed in any one of those places as long as I am able to care for her. She is 83 now and she is living very well by her self. However when or if the day comes when she needs constant care she know that I am more than able to care for her.

Congkiller wrote:

Oh and Mr. Hayden, you should not be knocked over with the smell of urine, when you open the front door of an two or three story nursing home. I know the very young and the very old have problems, there and to smell an accident that has happened recently or even go by a room or certain floor or ward is expeced. I saw how and why you smell it so strng in places, you should not. They also have body lice at HCW and have since the 80's. It is a shame these poor helpless people have to go somewhere like this to wait to die, I ould guess that many pray for death, I know I would.

I do not know anyone who has not changed since the 80's. It is a well known fact that nursing homes have improved greatly in the last 20 years. It is not fair to refer to history. As a RN that has worked hospital and nursing home I can tell you horror stories. I know for a fact that most head and body lice comes from the residents and their families. We can treat the resident and staff daily and then a visitor will visit granny and hug and kiss her and start the cycle again. I have banned whole families from the nursing home before. It is not my place to treat the state of TN for head and body lice. How many times is lice carried home from school. There is more body lice at the store living on the clothes than in nursing homes. Lice lives on objects, not on people. Think of that the next time your are at Goody's.

Jim Hayden wrote:

<quoted text>
Some people get offended at the smell in some of those places. They associate smell with how dirty a place is or isn't.
Alzheimer’s patients are some of the nastiest people. They forget how to eat and they forget how to go to the bathroom when they need to relieve themselves. It is the disease and not the patient themselves. Most of them forget how to feed themselves as the slowly over years starve themselves to death. They know something is going on only they have forgotten what to do about it.
They get extremely aggressive at the same time. Yes I have taken care of an Alzheimer's patient. It is hard enough trying to care for one of them now imagine an entire ward of them. It is no easy task.
In other words smell has nothing to do with how clean a place is or isn't. Some people who have never had to be around an Alzheimer's patient don't know that and they simply assume that it does.

I had to watch a close family member die from Alzheimers. If people are going to take the job (and I understand it is not a plesant one) then they should do it and do it properly which would include cleaning these folks up. I do remember my pappaw at times getting aggressive and trying to fight. And he was the most loving and gentle man alive. It was just the disease.

Congkiller wrote:

I use to volunteer to visit people at these homes and Shannondale on Middlebrook Pike is a bad place too. I saw a worker slap an old lady across the face and I called her out on it, the other nurses took up for her and nothing was done. My daughter was a candy striper there and she said an old lady got a broken bone from a worker and it was told to her family, that she fell in the shower. My mother will never be put in a nursing home or should we start calling them "hellholes" nursinghome just don't fit the bill.

Ya know...Just reading this MAKES ME SO ANGRY!
If I had seen this firsthand I would have had to use an alwful lot of restraint not to knock that worker up the side of her head with something. I think I would have called the police and filed a report on what I saw and find out who the lady was and call her family. But the sad reality is a lot of families don't really care. They just stick them there. I do think the ones that have a lot of visitors get better treatment because you never know when the family will walk in and see something. I know some of those people don't have visitors for weeks or even months at a time.