A nurse in York, Pa., shares her story about the Manor Care Kingston and Autumn House East.

A nurse in York, Pa., shares her story about the Manor Care Kingston and Autumn House East.

I am an RN who once worked in an assisted living facility back in 1998 when most of the residents were able-bodied and needed minimal assistance. It was a home that was designed more for the elderly who did not want to live with their children and who could get around fairly well, but just wanted help with meals and housekeeping.

Now these very same assisted living centers are filled with nursing home type patients who require skilled nurses on staff to adequately care for them. Now, however, they are left in the hands of aides who have minimal training in medications and nursing diagnosis and care. If any type of medical problem crops up, they are sent by ambulance to the already overcrowded ER for problems, which could be handled within the facility by trained registered nursing staff.

Two years ago, my mother entered Autumn House East, a local assisted living facility in York, after living with us for five months. Her health deteriorated to the point she required 24/7 supervision. She was alert, ambulatory and bathing herself. She had COPD, had a heart attack and throat problems, and so she required monitoring for those conditions as well as for a swallowing problem from throat cancer. She was there less than a few days and each day there were major errors in medication administration for her cardiac and respiratory problems even though I had a typewritten list and all of her medications organized. I even sat down twice with the nurse in charge to clarify the medications. My mom’s medications were mixed in a big drawer with other patient’s meds in the medication cart. My mother was taken to the ER with severe respiratory distress because her respiratory meds were not being administered properly. She was readmitted to Autumn House and in one day, the staff there again managed to make mistakes with her medication.

Because of their negligence, she had another episode of chest pain and the aide who was left in charge overnight had no idea that she should administer nitroglycerin for chest pain. I had to instruct her over the phone on how to give my mother help. While she waited for the ambulance, my mother was left alone. She ended up in rehab at Manor Care nursing home for three weeks; they made errors in her medications. She was eventually discharged back to Autumn House on Christmas Eve.

By Christmas day, she had developed pneumonia. She was in hospital for two weeks then admitted to Manor Care for nursing home care. I cannot even tell you how many medication and treatment-nursing errors occurred. It was humiliating as a nursing professional to see such utter incompetence in the nurses there.

In January 2007, she fell because she was left alone while in respiratory distress. She coded, broke several facial bones and was admitted to the trauma unit at York Hospital. Her face was unrecognizable. She had made it through nine months of hell so she could see my brother come home from Iraq. But on April 5, she died 20 minutes after calling me on the phone requesting I come and suction her because she had been waiting more than an hour. Apparently, the staff was busy feeding patients.

After my mother’s death, I filed a complaint because I wanted to do what I could for those who remained in Manor’s care. I could have filed a wrongful death suit, but monetary gain was not what I wanted and I did not want to endure an emotional roller coaster of a trial.

I know how long these patients wait to get on and ff the toilet or bedpan, sometimes an hour or more because I was in there daily. I watched as one LPN pulled and tugged on my mothers feeding tube as she tried to open the cap, and then had the audacity to call me later and tell me my mother pulled her feeding tube out.

I realize the constraints on the staff and lack of staff. If nursing homes provided adequate staffing, which is MORE than what is legally required, more people would want to work there. Right now, they are so understaffed and exhausted. WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD WANT TO WORK THERE? You end up getting nurses who have long been out of training or who don't care. It is unacceptable to me that these places who make a fortune off these patients provide such lousy care. I will never ever place a loved one in a nursing home and will take my chances on them dying at home.

We cared for a 57-year-old friend who had no family a few months after my mother’s death. He was in Pleasant Acres, a county nursing home facility. I cannot say enough good things about this home, everything was excellent. So tell me the reason for the enormous disparity of care? The word here is greed. The big chains need to be monitored and have adequate staffing or close down. As an RN, I would never work for a nursing home because they expect one RN to be responsible for 150 patients, which is ludicrous and an impossible job.

When I went in to speak with the administrator and nursing supervisor, it was evident that they understood that during feeding time there are not enough employees to feed everyone in the first place and that during feeding time patients are left to wait over an hour or more.

I documented my mother's care so that I could remember the new orders and keep track of her care. In the end, it was shocking to me to go back and read the account of what we had gone through. I presented it to the administrator and supervisor and I believe they were as shocked as well. When I submitted a few of the problems to the state Department of Health via e-mail, no one contacted me. The department proceeded with an investigation without the adequate information necessary. The facility was cited, but I doubt very much has changed. I wish the fines and citations were reported in the newspapers so the public would get involved. We need to find a solution. And fast.