Be Wary of Rehabilitation Facilities in Skilled Nursing Homes
- Thread starter Teacher Terry
- Start date
retire to nature
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2018
- Messages
- 383
Sorry to hear that. I recommend hospice service. it is ok even your friend is in the assisting facility. it will help your friend and other friend and yourself. Mainly, other healthcare provider dont know much about pain management, so can be shy about it too. and other part also, hospice can help a lot.
prudent_one
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2014
- Messages
- 333
I had no understanding of hospice care until my father grew very ill and his doctor recommended it. Like anything else I'm sure it depends on the specific people working there but the one where my father was - in a little town in NC - was amazing. Not only did they have wonderful, compassionate staff, they had volunteers who would come in and spend hours with people who had no family in the area. They had a fully-stocked kitchen - appliances, cookware, tableware, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher - open to any family members of a resident.
The wall calendar on the wall had two names written in for each day - the names belonged to different families in the area. People would sign up to bring a lunch or a dinner for about 8 people which would cover the family members of the people in hospice who happened to be there at meal times. Meals were labeled, dated, and had cooking or reheating instructions. I looked - Christmas day had people signed up for both meals.
After my mom passed away, one of the volunteers called my dad twice a week for a month just to check in on how he was getting along.
If every hospice is like that, I don't know why anyone would not jump on it if they could. It was a true blessing to our family, who wasn't even from the area, but they treated us like old friends.
The wall calendar on the wall had two names written in for each day - the names belonged to different families in the area. People would sign up to bring a lunch or a dinner for about 8 people which would cover the family members of the people in hospice who happened to be there at meal times. Meals were labeled, dated, and had cooking or reheating instructions. I looked - Christmas day had people signed up for both meals.
After my mom passed away, one of the volunteers called my dad twice a week for a month just to check in on how he was getting along.
If every hospice is like that, I don't know why anyone would not jump on it if they could. It was a true blessing to our family, who wasn't even from the area, but they treated us like old friends.
Bamaman
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
We have found care to be different at different hospital and rehab facilities, as they're all slanted toward varying goals.
My wife had terrible back surgery 7/12 & 7/14. They let her out of the hospital on 7/16--before she was physically ready. She really should have been released to rehab until she was gained some strength.
She'd been going downhill for 6 days with terrible leg pain and we ended up in the hospital emergency room. She had a thrombosis--blood clot--that could have been very serious. After a week of strong pain meds and other meds to break up the clot, she was released to a Rehabilitation Hospital.
The Rehab. hospital really was a hospital that was half occupational therapy and half physical therapy. My wife was taught how to handle her disability until her nerves from the back surgery regenerated and she regained strength. After 10 days, she was released to come home. Others in the rehab hospital were old and mentally pretty dull.
Five hours at home and her strong knee gave way--she fell and broke a leg. Back to the big hospital for surgery putting plates and screws in her leg. She was in the hospital 5 days before being sent to a nursing home that had physical therapy come in daily. Unfortunately she couldn't put weight on her broken leg for about 10 weeks so she only got limited therapy. Her doctors thought that this was a better fit for her condition at the time.
I've had her home a month or so, and she's still bedridden--having to slide on a board to a potty chair and into the shower. She's lucky that I'm like the cook at the Waffle House as she's never eaten better. And I somehow get the 11 year old granddaughter to school in the mornings and do laundry in between.
Until she can put full weight on the broken leg, physical therapy would be a waste. She'll get PT for both the back issue and the broken leg--while her legs are extremely weak. I'm not about to let her walk at home (even on a walker) until the therapists can get her legs stronger.
But our biggest issue is the Federal Government pushing States to mandate the maximum amount of pain medicines Pain Management Clinics can prescribe. My wife's been on pain meds for 21 years, and she successfully weaned herself to 25% of her normal meds before the back surgery. Now the doctors are cutting her back to normal pain med level--even though her present two medical issues require twice the meds for her to be comfortable. She's been up all night long in misery with what can be described as lightning going thru both legs--from the back surgery. And her skin and legs are hypersensitive to where you cannot even touch them. Doctors and even pharmacies are being watched intensely by state regulators, and everyone's afraid to serve the patients' needs. Patients in such serious pain are turning to street drugs--and dying of fentanyl overdoses. What do we do when it may take a year for nerves to regenerate--or never regenerate--and no one's giving her half enough medicines?
My wife had terrible back surgery 7/12 & 7/14. They let her out of the hospital on 7/16--before she was physically ready. She really should have been released to rehab until she was gained some strength.
She'd been going downhill for 6 days with terrible leg pain and we ended up in the hospital emergency room. She had a thrombosis--blood clot--that could have been very serious. After a week of strong pain meds and other meds to break up the clot, she was released to a Rehabilitation Hospital.
The Rehab. hospital really was a hospital that was half occupational therapy and half physical therapy. My wife was taught how to handle her disability until her nerves from the back surgery regenerated and she regained strength. After 10 days, she was released to come home. Others in the rehab hospital were old and mentally pretty dull.
Five hours at home and her strong knee gave way--she fell and broke a leg. Back to the big hospital for surgery putting plates and screws in her leg. She was in the hospital 5 days before being sent to a nursing home that had physical therapy come in daily. Unfortunately she couldn't put weight on her broken leg for about 10 weeks so she only got limited therapy. Her doctors thought that this was a better fit for her condition at the time.
I've had her home a month or so, and she's still bedridden--having to slide on a board to a potty chair and into the shower. She's lucky that I'm like the cook at the Waffle House as she's never eaten better. And I somehow get the 11 year old granddaughter to school in the mornings and do laundry in between.
Until she can put full weight on the broken leg, physical therapy would be a waste. She'll get PT for both the back issue and the broken leg--while her legs are extremely weak. I'm not about to let her walk at home (even on a walker) until the therapists can get her legs stronger.
But our biggest issue is the Federal Government pushing States to mandate the maximum amount of pain medicines Pain Management Clinics can prescribe. My wife's been on pain meds for 21 years, and she successfully weaned herself to 25% of her normal meds before the back surgery. Now the doctors are cutting her back to normal pain med level--even though her present two medical issues require twice the meds for her to be comfortable. She's been up all night long in misery with what can be described as lightning going thru both legs--from the back surgery. And her skin and legs are hypersensitive to where you cannot even touch them. Doctors and even pharmacies are being watched intensely by state regulators, and everyone's afraid to serve the patients' needs. Patients in such serious pain are turning to street drugs--and dying of fentanyl overdoses. What do we do when it may take a year for nerves to regenerate--or never regenerate--and no one's giving her half enough medicines?
Last edited:
OP
OP
Teacher Terry
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2014
- Messages
- 7,100
We have him on hospice and it’s been awful. We were going to fire them and try a different one but now that he’s dying there’s no point. My last friend that I helped through a illness the hospice I used was great. A good hospice is priceless.
retire to nature
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2018
- Messages
- 383
Yes, I couldnt agree more. Try to find a good one. Sometimes, big name of hospice doesnt mean good one. It is based on your friend condition, but like you said, good ones are priceless. you can transfer to another hospice. and since it is transfer, it shouldnt be much work. When I had to go back to nursing, I worked for a nursing home in new area in new state. so I didnt know anything about the area. But nursing home staff knew which hospice is good. in my area, there was fantastic hospice. But still other brand do the marketing, so other family chose different one. I know you are a former sw. if there is a significantly great one, other related worker would know which is the best one.
Last edited:
OP
OP
Teacher Terry
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2014
- Messages
- 7,100
I have fired a hospice in the past and the transition to a new one was easy but my friend probably won’t be alive by the end of the weekend. Also his brother called a supervisor last week and now they are coming daily and have authorized the facility to administer all the morphine he needs. The facility convinced my friend that this was a good hospice. I wouldn’t have chosen them because I fired them 6 years ago for another friend.
Similar threads
