NURSING HOMES in Sierra Vista (Phoenix, Tucson: insurance, attorney, transfer)

[clearwater66]

We are snowbirds and after hip surgery, my husband was transferred to a nursing home in Sierra Vista.

I visit him everyday and have had a chance to observe the care given by administrative, nursing and food servers, among others.

During the week, generally speaking, everyone does ok. However, on the weekends, when there is no real supervision, the place begins to look like something from the movie, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", with the staff barely functioning, at least those who show up.

Today (Sunday), for example, breakfast food trays were not delivered to patient's rooms. Fortunately, my husband was able, with a walker, to get to the dining room but who knows how room bound patients managed.

Also today, was the last straw for an elderly woman, across the hall from my husband who called her son and together, they walked out the front door; staff yelling "you can't leave"! This was after weeks of the woman's call light being on and on and on, with no response from any nurse or other staff. I saw the light on and I heard her call out, "will someone please help me" and it was very upsetting.

I don't want to demean all the devoted health care professional who practice real compassion and skill. I estimated about 50% of the staff at this facility are caring and devoted people and I understand the ratio may be normal for businesses, across the board. However, when we are talking about the advanced aged and the recovering aged - the truly venerable of our society, I wonder if we can't do better.

Medicare is picking up the tab for many patients; I hope the government is not being cheated.

To avoid having this thread deleted, I am not going to mention the name of the facility but you can find my review on Yelp in a few days. In fact, I would highly recommend that anyone who is responsible for putting an elderly relative or friend in any nursing home...read the online reviews and take the comments very seriously.

By the way, my husband is doing extremely well and he is getting out in a few days.

[gemstone1]

These people must know what is happening, please call: Office of Long Term Care Licensure.

Thanks for the review
Gemstone1

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

These people must know what is happening, please call: Office of Long Term Care Licensure.

Thanks for the review
Gemstone1

This is the problem with letting the "free market" decide what the rules are in our world. The free market has decided that it is acceptable to have 30+ patients to one nurse, and 10+ patients to one nursing assistant in long-term care and rehab centers.

There's only one state which has sat down and put a legal limit to the number of patients that can be assigned to a nurse, and that is California.

What that means is that many nursing homes like to try pushing the "norms", and will experiment with putting 35, 40, or 50 patients to one nurse, and stretching that nursing assistant ratio for 10-1, to say...20-1 when someone calls in sick, or just to "save" money for the corporation.. remember - corporations are "people" too, in this new world order..

So that link to AZDHS is awesome, and I'm quite certain they'll be all "sympathetic" to what has happened in the OP's situation - but, make no mistake - they know what is going on, and they don't give a rip about it, because they don't have any authority to limit the number of patients assigned to a nurse or a nursing assistant. If your family member suffers an injury or death because of under staffing, they'll do an "investigation", blame the nurse, and the nursing home will walk off scot-free.

Feel free to browse the disciplinary records for nursing homes in AZ - and the punishments meted out - much of the info is available online, and the results are underwhelming.

If more people knew what awaited them in nursing homes & long-term care centers, smoking, drinking & fried foods would enjoy a massive resurgence in popularity.

[clearwater66]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

If more people knew what awaited them in nursing homes & long-term care centers, smoking, drinking & fried foods would enjoy a massive resurgence in popularity.

thanks Zippy..thought you were spot on with comments.

Another issue I have with this Wilcox facility is that nurses are being asked to answer phones and transfer calls to patients. What? It would seem that a system could be easily installed that would allow the caller to push the room extension on their keypad and access the room directly.

Now we face another dilemma and this could be beneficial to others reading this post. FYI:

Medicare pays 100% for the first 20 days in a nursing home or hospital.
On the 21st day, they pay a percentage and the co-pay at this facility is $152. a day that is paid by the patient, if there is no other insurance.

Now with the ACA, there will be insurance available, in a way it hasn't been available in the past.

So tomorrow is my husband's 20th day and he has no other insurance, so we bought him an airline ticket to our home state, where Medicaid is going to provide payment for the remaining 3 weeks of required care, requested by his surgeon, in Tucson.

But the attending doctor in the local facility has tried to talk my husband into staying and will not sign a release for him and that means the facility will state my husband left on his own and if that happens, Medicare will not pay for any part of his care and we should expect a bill for these past 20 days.

OMG. Calling an attorney in Phoenix and the Office of Licensing.

At least we are lucky; we are both coherent and relatively smart. The really old and infirmed people in this facility are signing papers they do not understand, under the influence of medication and it's extremely upsetting. Thank God for this forum and for the internet...if all else fails...at least the public can access these real stories.

[observer53]

This thread is not being deleted here only because the OP did not name the facility.

That said, this thread is really not Arizona specific. The issues raised are issues in many places around the country, unfortunately.

Best of luck to the OP, and best wishes for your husband's recovery!

Closed.