I AM LIVID!!!

[Deb]

We have an elderly lady living next door to us.
She's 87 or 88 yrs old and has been a widow for many years. She never had children and has no living relatives that I'm aware of.

3 yrs ago she fell and hurt her knee. She was in the hospital for a few weeks, then went to a nursing home for rehab for 2 months- she didn't want to do the physical therapy and couldn't go home until she was able to care for herself.

She fell again in September and broke her hip. She's been home since October, first with round the clock help, then scaled back help during the week, with no one on the weekends.

Saturday morning she called me to say she fell and couldn't get up. I went over, got her up, she seemed fine. She went out to brunch on Easter with some friends and she seemed fine.

I noticed the nurses were staying later/overnight this week, so I went over there yesterday. She is VERY confused - didn't recognize me for 20 minutes, then kept forgetting who I was.

Spoke with the aide and she said this has been going on since Monday and Ms. M has fallen out of bed several times this week.

Ms. M was to the Dr on Wednesday, but the falling issue wasn't really addressed. The Agency RN was supposed to make a routine monthly visit, but just spoke to the aide over the phone instead and she didn't sound overly concerned (according to the aide) over the current issues.

I let the aide know if she needed anything, to please call, I'd be more than happy to go over and assist. (Ms. M can be VERY ornery, but she seems to respond to me when I tell her she needs to do something.)

Fast forward to 11:45 last night. Phone rings, caller ID comes up on the TV and it's Ms. M's number.

I figure the aide needs me, I pick up. It's Ms. M. She states she's been calling for the new aide for 20 minutes and she's not coming. Now, I now she is having confusion, so I figure she's just having an episode.

WRONG!

I go over, that BITCH, who came on shift at 9pm, is sacked out on the couch.
She never heard me open the overhead garage door, open the interior garage door and announce myself.

She didn't get up until I roused her from her slumber.
When I did, she wasn't even startled there was someone in the house.

I was SO tempted to throw that bitch's ass out last night and stay there myself, but I didn't want to overstep my bounds with Ms. M.

I WILL be calling the agency this morning to report it. The aide who came on shift at 7am has asked me to come over at 8am. She'll be calling the Dr. and would like me to be there to answer any questions.

[Maureen]

Well its good she has a good neighbor.

[~*Ks Mommy*~]

That's so sad. All I can do is picture my Grandma when you describe this lady. The sad is though, my Grandma's "aides" were 2 of my aunts that was stealing everything from right under her nose...and even in her death they keep stealing.

Anyway, I agree with Maureen, thank goodness she has you as a good neighbor.

[susie]

When I did home health, most of my clients were used to the aide just sitting around and not doing anything. They were surprised when I actually did my job.

I'm glad you're reporting that aide. Her behavior is just beyond unacceptable.

[littleduck]

Im glad the morning aide is stepping up and taking care of it and involving you. She seems to actually care about her job and this lady.

[DeviousAmaris]

I'm glad you reported her too. Hope your neighbor gets the care she deserves. This reminds me why I have a huge fear of growing old.

[Deb]

Well, I'm back after an EXHAUSTING day...

I spoke with the admin AND the agency RN this morning.
Come to find out, the overnighter is an LPN, not "just" an aide.
It was agreed we would try to get Ms. M to go to the Dr. The day aide made an appt for 10:30.
I went home to let husband know what was going on and it was decided I would accompany the aide & Ms. M to the Dr.

While I was waiting for them to get ready to go, aide got a call from Dr's office that they were cancelling her appt and we should take her to the ER. Aide told Ms. M and she was absolutely vicious to the aide and brought her to tears.

She called, I went over and talked Ms. M into going to the ER.
She checked out okay, but , the ER Dr questioned one of her meds - oxycotin 20mgs 2x per day. I told the aide, when she makes the follow up visit with Ms. M's Dr, to do so that I can go with.
Now another issue has arisen.
The person I knew as her Power of Attorney is no longer her POA.

Ms. M has a god son in VA. I called him and he "may" come down on Sunday, so we can sort out the POA issue.

Right now, no one can make any decisions.

I'm really pissed at the agency. NO ONE is following her rx's or monitoring their use.

I do have her Attorney's name and will be calling there on Monday to let them know what is up.

[gardenwitch]

It may take the attorney being involved to light a fire, but you are a great neighbor!

[Deb]

Gggrrr...

God son was supposed to call me back today, after speaking with his supervisor about taking some leave.

I never heard from him.

Looks like I'm going to be flying solo on this.
I really didn't want to get this far involved, but it looks like I HAVE to. No one else seems to give a damn.