I Am So Angry

[Jersey Girl]

Dear Laura,

Thank goodness that you stepped in! Thanks to you, this person will now get the much needed care that she needs for her continuing cpap therapy. I can only hope that someday, someone like you will be there for me!

The world is a better place because YOU are in it!

Warmly,

Jersey Girl

[OceanGoingGal]

Laura,
You were meant to be there. You were meant to be their advocate.

I work with children in special education. I often thought nobody better to advocate for them than their parents. But many times it is the other person who cares most; that advocates the best.[/quote]


Funny you should say that. I was called in to fill in at that house. I generally refuse that house because the younger staff assigned there resent the fact that I am older and will often ask for help in lifting the clients. We are supposed to have 2 people lifting for safety reasons it is how we were trained. The young girs ignore the rules to suit them. They usually make me feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. When I was called I was told that another older woman that I get along with would be working with me. So I said yes. She said "God put you here to recognise the danger" I sure am glad I was there. The client in question is a sweet quiet spoken woman that I have always liked.

Laura

[sister]

Laura,you are an angel sent from heaven.You will receive many blessings for what you have done.
May GOD bless you!

[DoriC]

Laura, don't be angry, just be thankful and proud! You did good!

[Bones]

It made me quite sad to read your post Laura. I hope your efforts effect some change there. Bless you for what you did for that lady.

Brian

[rosiefrosie]

I own and manage an (2) assisted living for the elderly with Dementia and Alzhiemers and yes there are rules and regulation that facilities must follow. These rules and regulations vary with states. I would say that whoever runs your home/program has dropped the ball. It needs to start with staff teaching, training and making sure things are getting done. We are small, 2 homes with 5 clients in esch home. Most of our staff is very caring and would see to it that our clients are well taken care of and those staff who don't care, don't last real long. You did the right thing, let's hope things change. It makes me wonder what else is not getting done. Just know that not alll homes are like this.

rosie

[TmjTerri]

Wow.. you are an absolute ANGEL!! God bless you for doing all that you did to help her. You truly made a huge difference. You are my HERO today. On behalf of the person that you helped I want to thank you SO much for going over and beyond the call of duty. Amazing, just amazing. Our world NEEDS more people like you in it. Great job!!

[Tip10]

Kudos Laura -- you done good.

You might also point out to the appropriate people that this is a reportable event that, if left unchecked, could cost them their license to operate.

What they did was tantamount to withholding prescribed medical treatment from their patient. This was not a case of inconvenience this was a case of legally prescribed medical treatment was not provided for a patient in their care.

I would expect every state board of health and/or the state agency responsible for overseeing the facility would be interested in hearing of this. Not saying you need to drop a dime on the responsible agency -- just saying that its an option if things do not change for the better.

[Geminidream]

Thank God someone intervened with this woman's care. There are many issues here, but the most glaring to me is the fact that there is not enough awareness of the dangers of OSA and the risks of lack of treatment of it. This is a great opening to find a way to get the awareness level where it should be, especially for those who cannot care for themselves. There needs to be more advocates for awareness and nursing homes and care centers are a good place to start.

[SleepyT]

When I got back to the day program I talked to the house manager and told her how I felt about the incident. I was going to talk to the manager of the day program too as he is the trainer and provides orientation training to all new employees. He was not in as he was doing trainings. I think the care and use of the c-pap needs to be a permanent part of the orientation training. I called back the house manager and told her that. She agreed. She wants me to come out to the house one day this week and give a demo on how to care for the machine for the staff on all three shifts at the house.

Laura

Right on....and good for you. It might be helpful to find the owner of this establishment too. Perhaps they could reinforce your concerns to the managers as well.

[OceanGoingGal]

Update
This morning the woman whose c-pap I fixed came over to thank me for helping her. She said she finally was able to sleep and felt much better. I cried when she did that. I love my clients and she is a quiet sweet person. When I think how lucky she was to survive it makes me shiver. When I got to the day program this morning I went to talk to the lead trainer. I asked him about the possibility of adding C-pap to the orientation trainings. He agreed and is on it already. I also mentioned that I think that the other employee should be reported for abuse/neglect. When the part broke she simply told the client she would have to get along without it. Then she did not even report the broken part to the manager or anyone. He said he was going to talk to the Area Director about it. Sadly abuse/neglect is a felony under the Zero Tolerance law.

Laura