107-year old nursing home resident

Summary

After placing her 107-year old grandmother in a nursing home, Beverly felt the nursing home was not giving grandmother the appropriate care. Frustrated at the lack of communication, she contacted the "Regional Ombudsman" working with Legal Aid.

Full Text Transcript

(Narrator, Leffler)
Beverly Brooks just went through the heart wrenching process of putting her one hundred and seven year old grandmother in a nursing home. Up to that time she had been paying for in-home care.

(Brooks)
This has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do. We've run out of money. The only option we had was to place grandmother in a nursing home facility in the Kanawha Valley.

(Narrator, Leffler)
She says it was bewildering and very frustrating dealing with the staff and bureaucracy of the facility.

(Brooks)
There was a lot of mis-communication. A good deal of confusion about which nurse's patient grandmother was. Instructions that I would give were not exactly being ignored, but being told to one person and not passed on to other people who would help grandmother.

(Narrator, Leffler)
To make matters worse within a few weeks Brooks's grandmother developed a very severe bedsore. At this point she contacted the Legal Aid Ombudsman who helps patients and their families deal with problems in long term care facilities. The Ombudsman visited the nursing home, checked on her grandmother and talked with the staff. Brooks says when she arrived things were very different.

(Brooks)
It was just a 360 degree turnaround in the way I was treated and in the care that I saw grandmother getting or not getting. The Legal Aid Ombudsman for me was just a crucial bridge in communication and just getting the attention of the nursing staff. I was very, very impressed.

(Narrator,Leffler)
Brooks' advice to anyone with a loved one in a long term care facility?

(Brooks)
If you see something that makes you uncomfortable, no matter how slight it may be, first I would tell the nurses and then if it doesn't seem to be getting better within a day or less then I would definitely suggest contacting the Legal Aid Ombudsman.

(Narrator, Leffler)
I'm Susan Leffler.