Be very careful when choosing this place for your loved one. My mother (age 80) broke her hip, a non displaced break so no surgery but a good deal of pain. Hillcrest was, as usual, top notch. Discharged to physical therapy only bed open was Montefiore. There is no direct chain of command at Montefiore. There are a good many contract workers there. My mother was there for the PT and OT to get her up and walking so she could return home. COORDINATION OF CARE IS A DISASTER - Day one PT picked her up for PT and she had not been given her pain medication first - SO I HAD TO LEAVE WORK, GO THERE FIND OUT WHO THOUGHT SHE COULD HAVE PT WITH A PAIN SCORE OF 10 WITHOUT MEDICATION. I THEN HAD TO COORDINATE WITH THE FLOOR NURSE AND PT AN OT TO COME UP WITH A COMMON SENSE SCHEDULE AND PUT IT ON MY MOM'S WALL SO THAT SHE KNEW WHAT TO EXPECT. Day two they forgot about giving her breakfast so by the time she got out of PT and OT it was 1:30 and she was weak from hunger I HAD TO LEAVE WORK TO GO THERE AND GET HER SOMETHING TO EAT.... there is much more and I have had to go there EVERY DAY and TAKE TIME OFF WORK for something or another - TODAY we are on day 8, she was supposed to have showers on Wednesdays and Sundays she still has not had one....TODAY at 9:45 the nurse told my mother she was out of pain medication and needed another order from the Nurse Practitioner, Mary, MARY was nowhere to be found. They took my mother to PT and OT but of course she couldn't do any work - I HAD TO LEAVE WORK AND GO THERE TO FIND OUT WHY on day 6 they did not go and find out if my mother would need more pain medication so that she could have good CONTINUATION OF CARE. I waited for 75 minutes for NP Mary, our floor nurse said MARY was aware of the situation and would get to my mother. MY MOTHER HAD ALREADY MISSED HER PT and OT because she was unable to do them without her pain medication. OUT OF FRUSTRATION I went to the front office and found a woman named JENNA who tracked down the NP, got a paper order, and brought it to the nurse so she could dispense the medication 11:40 at this time - then I HAD TO GO TO PT and try to coordinate a PT and OT time in the afternoon when the medication was still giving her enough relief to go through the exercises but not too late, as the effects would wear off. They said they would tell her a time in the afternoon that they would come and get her for PT and OT. I THEN LEFT BECAUSE I HAD TO GO TO WORK I WAS 4 HOURS LATE ALREADY - as of this writing at 1:48 the NP still has not gone to my mother's room. She might have thought, well I gave the paper order for more pain medication BUT SHE SHOULD HAVE GONE TO CHECK AND SEE IF THERE WERE ANY OTHER ISSUES - AND SHE DID NOT. I come from a family of physicians. WE HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH POOR COORDINATION OF CARE AND CHAIN OF COMMAND. UNREASONABLE AND OUTRAGEOUS. I will go over the Medicare billing with a fine tooth comb, I will report medicare fraud if I find it. read more
