We had to place our mother at Beechwood Continuing Care 12/2019 and 3 months later the nation faced the unthinkable... The Covid-19 Pandemic. I will never forget the night on March 19, 2020. I had to say goodbye to my mother, who we saw & cared for Everyday. This was the Beginning of the End. Throughout the pandemic we FaceTimed. Then there were scheduled 1/2hr door visits. I wondered why the staff was bringing my mother to the door visit by wheelchair. My mother walked with her walker, she even got into my 3 row SUV. I insisted on seeing if my mother could walk, sadly she could not. Door visits and FaceTime calls were getting more difficult. I began to see the fast decline. My mother was constantly confined & isolated in her room (bc of positive Covid cases) with no stimulation or socialization. She never got Covid. By the time I finally got inside for an indoor visit she didn't know me. She knew we were her daughters because we had to tell her, but she didn't know our names. Then we were allowed 2 designated caregivers. By then, my mother barley opened her eyes. We took her on an out pass (which was difficult because she's now confined to a wheelchair) for a makeover. I took over doing all of her laundry again. Cleaned her room (it was awful), bought new bedding and tried to get things back to "our way". Eventually we had to start feeding her homemade meals that we brought each day. Then we began to purée her food because I noticed she was pocketing her food and struggled to swallow. Then I began to notice she couldn't drink out of a cup or through a straw. Beside myself, after a long weekend at Beechwood I made a call Monday morning reaching out for help to teach me ways to get my mother to drink. DID I MENTION THAT EVERY-TIME THERE WAS AN ISSUE IT TOOK US DAUGHTERS TO NOTICE, TO REPORT IT TO THE SOCIAL WORKER OR VISITING NURSE. So now I finally get a call after reaching out for help that my mother has aspirating pneumonia and a nodule on her lung (they scrambled and ran tests the day after I made the call). So now they finally tell me about "thickened liquids" which I never knew of. My mother should've been on the thickened liquids the day she went on puréed food. BEECHWOOD HAD DROPPED THE BALL SO MANY TIMES, ITS DISGUSTING! Now at least 31/2weeks go by and I hear from No One. I wanted to have my mother evaluated by hospice but was convinced by Rose the social worker that if I did that I would lose the visiting nurse from IH and that keeping her would be better at this point. So I listened. I filled in for my sister on Friday 4/30 (we went every night) because they have a "fill in" LPN from different floors because the full time day LPN and night LPN need time off so it was important to be at Beechwood especially those nights. My mother ate the puréed meal I prepared but I couldn't get her to drink my thickened liquids. I got her washed up and settled in. I expressed my concerns to the LPN on duty, my mothers breathing was like a loud rattle (I took a video and showed the LPN). I even asked to stay. She said "I got you, I'll look in on her" and then told me she got her to drink a bottle of water and glass of milk that day. I said no, no.... Thickened Liquids Only. The LPN indicated that it didn't say that on her care sheet, she even showed me, then she made notes. I left feeling uneasy. I called around 10:15 to check on my mother which I never had to do. The LPN said there are NO CONCERNS FOR BETTY, I gave her a glass of puréed OJ and put her to bed at 9:30 so there are NO CONCERNS. I received a phone call at 7:15AM telling me my mother passed away. The phone call that I made Friday night could've been handled so differently. All the LPN had to do was put me on hold to check in on my mom. They claim she died peacefully in her sleep. My struggled with her breathing, she was filled with fluid and she was all alone. I'm heartbroken
DO NOT PUT YOUR LOVED ONE IN THIS FACILITY. All you get is lip service from everyone. The staff are lazy & incompetent. Okay read more
