Issues with Facility and How to Address them

ronszky

My Dad is in a facility in Bayville, NJ and on Mother's Day my Mom & I went for a visit (Mom goes every day). When we arrived (approx 1130am) my Dad was not up yet. He had a temporary staff assigned to him that day and she wasn't told to get him up...that my Mom visits each day. She said she assumed when understaffed you take care of the harder patients last. My Dad is in a wheel chair and in his condition he is a challenge to transport. The service at this facility is often (especially on weekends) quite poor and this woman openly talked about how she temps all over the area and this one is the worst. Another employee said how it is always like this...short staffed on the weekends. My Mom has other evidence of poor service / treatment. Is there an agency I can talk to about this or do we just move him? What I don't understand is how expensive this facility is. I'm assuming this is a NJ standard....over $9k/month. My Mom is a private payer. How do I help? She has talked to management and they just don't seem to care.

loveskitties

You can contact your Department of Health and ask for information regarding the specific care facility...such as reviews, complaints, deficiencies found.

You can also ask what is the patient/staff ratio requirement.

If you feel that care given your dad is less than required your Mother can file a complaint and ask for review.

Before filing a complaint, I would have another place selected with availability...just in case they "determine" they can no longer meet his care needs.

ronszky

Thank you so much. Great advice

DJnAZ

I have had various issues with the facility in Arizona housing my wife, specifically her bathing and hygiene. Conversations with the charge nurse or the director of nursing rarely resulted in positive changes.

A friend who had a similar situation with her dad suggested I contact my county Council on Aging that includes adult protective services (APS) and also an Ombudsman program representative. Through an initial online contact form I received a call from the Ombudsman who has the responsibility of representing my wife (and me) when dealing with the facility staff and management.

Although the Ombudsman has no specific enforcement power, just having a patient's advocate has been incredibly helpful with several different issues. My wife has been in this facility for a year suffering from dementia and global aphasia and knowing that the Ombudsman can help has taken a load off my back.

I hope you can find a similar resource in your area.

harshedbuzz

It's hard to say.

Is this a SNF or a MCF? If SNF, that price would be a steal in NJ; if a MCF I'm guessing it's probably avaerage especially if it's tiered pricing.

If the place is chronically short-staffed, it might make sense to visit other facilities in the area to get a sense whether things are better in different facilities. Bayville seems like staffing could be a challenge; many resort areas find staffing for all kinds of jobs to be challenging. You could help by touring other places. I would drop in at odd times including weekends to get a sense of what is out there.

When dad was in MC, his scheduled the staff on a Sun-Thurs or a Tues-Sat schedule so there were very few weekend part-timers.

HB