mother-in-law was placed in a memory care facility 6 weeks. prior to that wife and i cared for her at home. we were exhausted and MIL dementia had progressed. at first it appeared care would be ok at facility. within first week we noticed gaps in care, especially around peri-care and meal service. 10 days ago we chose to call APS because of care issues not being addressed after numerous meetings with care coordinator, director, and nurse. sadly staff attitude has changed to what seems to be advisarial. we are very disappointed in quality of care being provided.
my sense is much of it is due to low staffing levels as well as inadequate training. here in oregon the memory care facilities are not required to have licensed care-givers, even to pass medications. a RN for the facility is a consultant, present for 24-32hrs per week only. this facility has 55 beds and there are 4 care-givers on nights, 4-6 on days. and get this, they are in compliance with state staffing guidelines.
so much attention is placed on acute care ie hospitals, the quality of care, staffing ratio's of licensed nurses to patients. and studies demonstrate increased quality, better outcomes, when RN provides majority of care.
along the way dementia patients/residents continue to be the forgotten patient in our health care system. people with dementia have multiple diagnosis with complex care issues[MIL has 7 separate medical diagnosis], yet since the dementia diagnosis it's as if the other 6 don't exist at the memory care facility.
within our area all nursing homes/memory care are owned by for-profit corporations. i can't help but think the lobbyist for the long-term care industry had much of their way when state rules and regulations were passed. it's extremely odd/frustrating dementia care-givers in oregon only need to be 18yr old and pass a crimminal background check. in addition all the training needed is 6hrs by the facility before they do hands on care.
the more i learn about facilities and observe the poor quality of care, well, it's depressing. and wife and i are reconsidering the decision to place MIL in a facility. in the mean time we continue to go to the facility each day at different times and keep ourselves involved in MIL care.
my sense is these quality care issues are more the norm and prevalent thru out our country,
thanx for listening
thomas
It takes a special sort of person to work in a Senior Long Term Care facility. It was hard 30 years ago, and is still the same. Terrible.
When I scrolled the corporate website, my eyes turned red from how many SVPs there were with fat pay checks at my expense.