Buena Vida Continuing Care and Rehabilitation Center

Well, this review is several years in the making. I had my dad placed in here due to a medical condition. He suffered a severe stroke. Originally he was placed in a different location and we had him transferred here shortly there after. He was receiving treatment here and therapy here for a few months and then sent down for long term care. And when it came to long term care, that’s where my issue was. My father would call me constantly, crying to me because he has been soiled for hours and no one would come clean him. I would call the front desk and they would transfer me to the nursing station and I would complain and ask for help. They would tell me they would send someone soon. However, their idea of soon is different than mine. Soon should be no more that 15 minutes, instead it would take an extra hour before they would come clean him. That’s one issue. The second issue was food distribution. My father is a diabetic and he needs his breakfast as soon as he wakes up. But they don’t give my dad his food at 8 or 9, they provide him with his food at 945 am. My dad is bed ridden so he doesn’t get out of his bed because he is paralyzed. They told me the reason he gets fed so late is because they need to feed the people who are in the lunch room first. Which to me makes no sense because his food always arrives cold. SO here is the kicker, my dad can not feed himself well because he is blind in one eye and going blind in the other, he cannot eat like he used to because he is paralyzed, and they don’t give him someone to help feed him. I complained to them about this and the staff tells me that he needs to learn how to eat on his own. To which I replied, my father cannot eat on his own and needs assistance. When they do it, they did it in a rushed manner. They know that my dad is susceptible to choking because he is paralyzed on his left side, but they still allow him to eat alone.
For a whole year and a few months, I dealt with this. I was under the impression that he was receiving some sort of help with his legs to probably walk again, but he wasn’t. I was not informed that they stopped and I only learned of it after 7 months after it was stopped. My dad suffered some injuries here as well. They left him in a wheelchair unattended and he fell out of the wheel chair and received a laceration above his eye. He was rushed to the ER and kept for observation. NO ONE took any accountability for this, instead they blamed my father for this. Again, I am saying this, they did not provide him with adequate supervision. They said that my dad just wheeled himself out, but if you know that the client is blind and is paralyzed, why would you leave him out of your sight? OK, so now my dad hurts himself badly and sadly started to forget things since the fall. No one said, Im sorry, this wont happen again, instead what I got from them was «Your father should be sitting upright, he fell because he wasn’t upright» but funny thing is that the nurse on duty told me he had complained about dizziness to the staff members and nothing was done, they just ignored it. Thats why he fell.
I proceed to the issue of lack of staff. Sadly with many care centers, they are short staffed and this makes it an issue to tend to all of the people who receive long term care there. I understand how frustrating this is and I have seen some workers behave in a uncaring manner to clients there. I was worried that if I complained to the director, something would happen to my dad, so I didn’t say anything (which is a big mistake). My dad would call me every day to complain that they haven’t cleaned him yet, and so I would take some time from work and drive there just to change his diaper and clean him. I mean he presses the button and notifies them but they ignore it. A few times I was on the phone with him and I would hear the nasty attitude towards my father on the intercom, they would stay stop ringing the bell, or I already told you to wait. BUt he would wait 2 hours. I mean could you imagine yourself sitting in your own soil for two hours?
I recall a day where he was severely constipated and he was given meds for it and he soiled himself horribly. He called me to tell me that they haven’t clean him yet. I would call the desk and be told the same story. I drove to him, and remained with him from 4pm to 8pm, cleaning him because I knew i couldn’t count on the staff to do it in time. I understand though, they are short staffed.
ALso, his baths, I was told that he would receive 2 showers a week. But that wasnt always the case, there were times that he wouldnt even receive a shower and they would try and tell my dad that he forgot. I purposely placed a pen line on my dads lower wrist to see if they washed him, 1 week later I checked and the line was still there which indicated that he was not cleaned.
But I will say this, its a hard job, and the statements I am making are only of my experience.