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Acute Care & Losing friends
In 2003 after the loss of my dad, my mother and I opted to move into Sun City Anthem where we would share a new home. The joy we shared in that new home was dampened in 2005 when I lost my mother but, on the bright side, I began to socialize with the group of ladies in my “village” of Big Sky and became active in the HOA..
Although I became friendly with many of the women in the group, I became especially close to one of the group, Patsy McCarthy. From that time on, Patsy and her mother, Martha May were regular guests at my Thanksgiving table, always showing up with a bowl of her fabulous Guacamole dip.
Two weeks ago, Patsy, who now lived alone since her mother passed about two years ago, fell in her home and injured her back. The physician at St Rose Hospital advised surgery to fix the damage to two discs in her spine.
I remember telling Patsy that I had back surgery about 12 years ago and was back at the gym in a few weeks, “not to worry, I said, you will be fine”!
When the surgery was over my dearest friend was sent to Sage Creek Post-Acute care. Another friend who visited Patsy there was appalled by the place and told me that the lack of cleanliness for such a facility was poorly lacking and that staff was nowhere to be seen when she visited. I had been tempted to contact the Ombudsman who oversees such things but, since I reported a group home several years ago for the same condition and got nowhere, sadly I did not.
I phoned her after two days at the facility and she promised to get well so that she would not break our record of being together for Thanksgiving. That day she sounded very tired and told me she was still in a great deal of pain. I was so sure that after a few days it would pass, and I would hear my friend laugh again.
On October 12 she was rushed back to St. Rose from Sage Creek on a ventilator due to an infection she picked up, presumably at the care facility. Several of us called the hospital, asking how she was doing and if we would be allowed to visit, I was told “give her cousin a call.” Alarm bells rang in my head, and I searched for the contact numbers to give the cousin a call.
“Patsy passed early this morning” I was told. I was shattered and asked how, from what? It seems she contacted Sepsis at the acute care facility and within two days she passed away.
Since that dreadful day I have been talking to several friends and neighbors and discovered this is nothing out of the ordinary in these types of facilities. Could it be that they seem to think because we are seniors, we are disposable and don’t have to care too much, I hope to God I’m wrong about that.
However, I have started asking questions of people whose friends and/or family members have had issues at any acute care nursing facility and am filing a complaint with the Elder Services Ombudsman. I will keep posting updates as they happen, with some diligence and a little luck we can make a difference, just as we did with guardianship.
If you know of anyone who wishes to help on these issues here are the contact information for the state. I can be reached at Rana@thevegasvoice.net
Adult Protective Services, Intake Unit
Nevada Department of Health and Human Services
Aging and Disability Services Division | Adult Protective Services
3320 West Sahara Ave. Suite 100|Las Vegas, Nevada 89102
T: (702) 486-6930 or 888-729-0571| F: (702) 486-3572 |E: erintake@adsd.nv.govSo sorry for the loss of your dear friend. It’s sad that the facility hasn’t provided the necessary care for us seniors. My sincere condolence.
emailed in by L.P. (thank you for contributing)
My sister was at Sage Creek
Both she and I experienced problems.. Myself, because I stayed in touch with the facility and was very vocal. Her room was dirty and I had to constantly pick up. Getting in touch with someone there was like asking to speak with the President of the United States. This place should be closed down because they have inept people and lousy management. And their lcsw folks should have their licenses revoked or better, only work in prisons.
This place reminded me of a line from the Paddy Chaefsky movie “The Hospital” when George C. Scott questioned one of the doctors with ” Where do you train your people, in Dachau”. And don’t get me started on the financial aspects of those people.
Emailed in by: CJ Wisner
Hi Rana,
I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. What a sad thing to have happened. I have a story which came to mind about Sage Creek, but I do not remember all the details. I too had a bad experience with Sage Creek Rehab.
In 2019, our 97 year old aunt was diagnosed with cancer at St. Rose Hospital. That is another story on it’s own. (She was very active and walking a quarter mile every day 2 weeks prior). She was sent to Sage Creek for rehab and to get strong enough to return to our home. We thought it was a good place having visited a friend there in January 2019.
We were wrong. Our aunt was there for about 1 week. We never were able to speak to her doctor. Apparently, he was on vacation and another doctor was doing rounds for him. Our aunt also had a stomach ulcer and had eating difficulties.
I requested that they give her Ensure or equivalent and that she be put on a soft foods diet. It was never done. They told me the doctor never ordered it. I had to bring it on my own from home. They would serve her food like big hamburgers etc. with no one around to cut, or mash the food. I needed to be constantly around to ask for pudding, soup, or other soft foods during mealtime.
We requested to meet with her team regarding her care and situation and was told we had to wait a week. She was sent to St. Rose Hospital for blood infusion, but we were not told if this was beneficial or dangerous for someone in her condition. The day after the infusion her ankles and legs were quite swollen. I mentioned this to the nurse and nothing was done. (I think they could have sent her back to hospital because of fluid overload and given her diuretics but I did not know this at the time).
Our aunt died later that evening. I did not remember problems with the cleanliness of the facility. I do however remember food trays sitting in the room for many hours before being removed.
Our other friend who was still at Sage when our aunt was there, began to deteriorate. I do not know all the details, but he was never encouraged to participate in rehab. If he was sleeping or not feeling up to it at the time they came to his room, they never returned to make up the missed session.
They also hooked him up to a catheter to make it easier on them so they did not have to help him to the bathroom. He ended up with several UTI infections. And went downhill from there. He was sent to a nursing home where he eventually passed away. I believe his downward spiral started at Sage Creek.
I hope this information is useful to you. And again I offer you my sincere sympathies.
Regards,
CJ Wisner
Subject: acute care nursing homes
Rana, I’m sorry for the tragic loss of your dear friend Patsy. My fiancee was in Traditional Care (now Sandstone) on. S. Rainbow and W. Russell Rd. (a terrible facility) in January of 2022. He passed away on Feb. 10, 2022 in St. Rose Hospital San Marten Campus.
He did not get good care at the rehab and the doctor there was horrible. It was like a 3rd world country facility, very outdated and depressing. We had Aetna insurance and he deserved better.
Thank you for your concern.
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