A Typical Monday Afternoon at Sheepshead Nursing Home

By Jack Halpern

I recently came to know a nice elderly woman, who we shall call Mrs. Rothman. Her husband, Alan was placed in Sheepshead Nursing Home in Brooklyn after a recent hospitalization. This nursing home, although mediocre at best is near Mrs. Rothman’s home. Sadie is in her eighties and very frail herself. I had the opportunity to place her husband in a better home, but she would not get the opportunity to visit him.

Sadie called me a few days later and could not understand why Alan was soaked in urine whenever she came to visit him. He would sit, strapped in his wheelchair for long periods of time soaked in urine. Sadie felt bad for the staff because her husband had a urinary problem that required that he be changed more often.

Sadie, welcome to the world of substandard nursing home care. Yesterday, I decided that since I was in the area for a meeting, I would visit Alan at Sheepshead NH and apologize on behalf of the human race for the indignities that he must suffer. I dreaded visiting this dump because I was certain that I would find, exactly what I found. Oh, how I hate to be right.

I stroll into the building, dressed in my expensive blue pinstriped suit, my Armani tie, and cashmere coat. I have to say, I looked impressive. Not impressive enough for the yawning “security” guard. He did not so much as lift an eyelid or ask me who I was, or what is my business at the home. I asked him if I should sign in and he said “yeah, sure”. I signed in as George W. Bush visiting Donald Rumsfeld. Warning sign #1.

I went to Alan’s room on the fourth floor. On the way to his room I noticed four staff members hanging around in the hallway, just shooting the breeze (there goes the staff shortage argument). Not one member of the staff was wearing an ID Badge. Warning sign # 2. Why wear an ID when you are neglecting your residents? It’s not a good idea. I pass the nurses station. The nurse does not look at me; her face is buried in her charting. Sitting in the hallway at a little table is a blond Russian woman, who does not look at me, charting.

Why all the craze about charting? You see the New York State Department of Health does not really care if you are giving good care. They only care that you are charting that you are giving good care. Charting the care is a lot easier than actually giving it. When the DOH comes to inspect during it’s annual “unannounced” announced time, they will be looking only at the charts. So charting is important.

Mr. Rothman is not in his room. I go into the “day” room. In the day room I find about twenty five elderly residents assembled at tables, doing absolutely nothing. One orderly is sitting at a table with a couple of patient charts, pretending to chart. He is watching TV. He really does not want to be there. I ask him to point out Alan for me. He throws up his arms, so I find him myself. Residents are asking to go to their rooms, or go to the bathroom. Our man does not even move a muscle. His arm is stretched out under his head. He is resting.

I decide to take Alan to his room. As I approach his room, an aide tells me that he can’t be in his room because he is going to fall. He has to return to the day room with the other corralled residents.

I ask the charting nurse (one of the least friendly people I have met in a long time) if I can speak to Mr. Rothman’s social worker. Apparently she is out to lunch and no one else can help me. I ask for a nursing supervisor. I’m told that I have to go downstairs to the nursing office. The nursing office is closed. I ask the guard to page a nurse for me. Now he wants to know who I am. I tell him that I am Alan’s twin brother from another mother. Goes right over his head but he pages a supervisor for me.

Finally, I am face to face with an authority figure, another blond Russian lady who grimaces at me. She meets my handshake with two limp fingers and asks me what my problem is. She is not wearing an ID Badge either. First I tell her that I find it disturbing that staff members including herself are not identified. I inform her that this is clearly against the law. She is not very affected by my observation. She just wants to get back to whatever it is that she is not doing.

If I sound a little facetious here, it’s because I am being facitious. I’m pretty pissed by now, no pun intended. What the heck, it’s my damn blog.

I try to explain that my friend, Sadie is always finding her husband soaked in urine. Blondie tells me that Alan is very confused. “What does his confusion have to do with not being taken to the bathroom”, I ask. Blondie is confused by my confusion.

I suggest to her that it would a good idea to take residents to the bathroom when they need to go instead of having them all sitting in the day room with one orderly, while the rest of the staff hangs out.

According to the horrible people at the NYS Department of Health, 39% of the residents at this nursing home are High-Risk Long-Stay Residents Who Have Pressure Sores, as compared to the county average of 17%. The state average is 12%.

DUH!! Maybe there is a direct correlation between a higher than normal average of bedsores, and residents who constantly lay in their own waste.

The scary part of this story is that I observed this in the middle of the day. I get depressed just imagining what happens in the evening hours and the weekend. I don’t have to imagine, I know. The owner and administrator of this facility don’t give a damn.

At no time during the forty minutes that I spent at Sheepshead Nursing Home, did I observe any staff member interact with a resident. Warning sign #3.

BE VERY AFRAID!

Comments

[Elizabeth Jalali-Anzivino]

Could you please re-iterate the fact that when a person is being discharged from a hospital and into a rehab. facility, that they do NOT need to choose from the list that is presented to them. The lists are comprised of facilities that have empty beds.

Alternately, please direct me to a link that explains why hospitals do this and what a patient and their family have the right to demand.

Thank you.

[Carmen]

It is sad to say that the Nursing Homes are not the only ones abandoning the elderly.

My husband was sent to the hospital from the Nursing Home for needed surgery. I had to push them to send him to the hospital but that is another story.

While doing the pre-op tests they discovered all kinds of things wrong with him from being malnourished to dehydration and bacterias and more but no one thought to inform me. I had been battling the NH about his daily care and it was like pulling teeth to get information out of them..The "care" was negligible.

After his death I was able to get the hospital records and saw all these red flags..I questioned the assistant director about them not calling in social services and his response was that many if not all the patients they get from nursing homes are in poor condition..sort of ..par for the course. It did not occur to the hospital that maybe the condition these patients are in is not due to old age and illness but due to the conditions they are being forced to endure. No one at the hospital questions the state of these patients..It is assumed that they are the way they are due to illness or old age. Patients are being pushed to die sooner by not giving them adequate nutrition and fluids and the hospitals are complicit in their silence.

There is no excuse for the hospital not informing the spouse of their findings and then the spouse can make an informed decision about their care...Not wanting to rock the boat, the hospitals are helping the elimination of these patients by their silence.

I call these cases Mini-Schiavos..The patient is slowly being starved and dehydrated and the spouse comes in and sees the PEG tube solution and assumes everything is alright..Little did I know that the solution was not adequate for him. I was just being given the illusion that he was being given nutrition...but it was just that, an illusion.

Magdalena

[Ben Smyt]

Great Article! What a Dump!

[Annette Fisher - Reverse Mortgage Specialist]

Hi Jack,

I believe the Rothmans are clients of mine that I had referred to you. It is fortunate that there are people like you in this world. You see the horrible nursing home care is only part of the picture. You see Alan had been hit by a car and was taken to one of our well known Brooklyn hopitals for treatment. I believe it was after a week to 10 days that the hospital staff had instructed Mrs. Rothman they would be sending Alan home. I am not a social worker, however I do care what happens to the folks I come in contact with. I let my clients know they can use me as a resource if they should need help with finding the proper resources to get things done. I was sad to hear Alan was hit by a car, and even sadder to hear according to Mrs. Rothman the hospital was going to send Alan home, when he couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom by himself. Upon hearing this from Mrs. Rothman I asked if she had spoken to the social worker. She had spoken with the social worker and she was told they would look into it. I asked Mrs. Rothman if they were planning physical therapy. Someone would come to the home to do the therapy. Mrs. Rothman said she would be able to have help a few hours per day. Since I knew from prior conversations with Mrs. Rothman Alan needed to go to the bathroom approximately every 1-1/2 hours, this would be a bad situation. I told Mrs. Rothman to make sure to get back in touch with the hospital social worker to make sure she understands Mrs. Rothmans back condition and the fact that that she is over 80. I put Mrs. Rothman in touch with Jack, because I know Jack has the knowledge and experince to help seniors in this situation. Mrs. Rothman really wanted to get Alan in a Rehabilitation center near her home, since she is having difficulty getting around herself. I hope Alan will get through this as he is now back in the hospital. Thanks Jack for taking the time to help people who couldn't normally aford your expertize. As for the man whose dad was there for 8 months, the care was probably better because he visited daily for 8 months.

[Polina]

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the stuff of Sheepshead Nursing Home in Brooklyn. My father, who underwent 2 brain surgeries, was half paralyzed when he get to this facility. He was not able to take care of himself, ambulate or speak. Needless to say, that in a few months he was able to walk (with assistance) 75feet. He did not loose even an ounce of his weight even though he required constant and full assistant with feeding. Unfortunately, my father had bowel and bladder incontinence but despite that not even redness on his skin has been noticed. I have visited my father every day for 8 months he spent in Sheepshead NH and securities, who new my face and name by heart, friendly reminded me to sign in the visiting book every single day. Doctors, nurses, social workers, administration personnel – all of them were caring ID tags and appropriately introduced themselves. Clean rooms, complete absence of any odors and dedication of the CNA’s and other assisting personnel was amazing. Eight long months that we spent in this facility could’ve been much longer if it weren’t for Sheepshead NH caring staff. One more fact, when my father finally passed away, the only medical facility that bothered to comfort our family in time of mourning was Sheepsehead NH, we still have a birthday card they wrote for my father along with the sympathy card when he died.

[Melissa]

I actually live in Canada, and to be honest have not visited many nursing homes. For this reason, I cannot say if this type of care would typically be seen. If it's happening in US though, I can only guess that it's happening here too.

Here or there doesn't really matter though - reading this post made me physically sick to my stomach. It is aweful to know that elderly persons (or any person for that matter) would be receiving such terrible care. In the year 2008, how does this happen in North America??

As an average person, I ask myself...what can I do about it? Any suggestions?

[Dennis Haber]

It is astounding that this could be happening in this country. Surely our elders deserve better, much better.

I was livid after reading this.