Sylvia J Veasey
If I had to place my husband in a facility again, I would not recommend this particular Avendelle home, Waterford Landing. I know my husband's death was in God’s timing, but I would have wanted his final days to be better than what he received at Avendelle Waterford Landing. At Waterford Landing, I was there visiting 5 days out of the 9 that my husband was a resident. I experienced a staff that didn’t seem to want to engage with me or my husband in a way that would have helped them get to know me and him, or ask questions that would have helped in his care. When I would visit, I tried my best to engage with the staff, but never felt comfortable with them. I noticed that there just seemed to be a great lack of interaction with me, my husband, and with the other residents. I asked them to play some country music when he was up in the morning or early afternoon and to my knowledge my request was ignored. At his admission Waterford Landing, I expressed to the staff that he needed to be prompted and offered water every so often between meals, because of his tendency for UTI's. Apparently this request was ignored as well. I had 30 days to find a new facility for my husband who had Alzheimer’s. I visited several assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and Avendelle homes, and found the one I considered was the best fit for him and location for me. A bed would be available in about 3 months at that time, at the Avendelle home on Maynard Rd. Avendelle at Waterford Landing did have empty bed and my husband was first on the waiting list for our desired home and we could transfer when the bed became empty. At Waterford Landing he had a new doctor from the Neighborhood Clinic. This doctor never saw my husband as his patient BUT signed his death certificate!!! At Waterford Landing, the Avendelle nurse ordered all of his previously prescribed medicines with this New doctor who never saw him!! At Waterford Landing home, he had a new hospice nurse , saw him twice in the 9 days . Who made the declaration that my husband had died on her 3rd visit to Waterford Landing He never saw an Avendelle nurse after his admission to On Jan 29, 2020. At his admission to Waterford Landing, he was in a good mood and was jovial and joking with the Hospice nurse as she was admitting him, I was busy completing more forms and writing a check for the outrageous NONREFUNDABLE amount called a community fee. He lived only 9 days after his admission and not a single penny was refunded!!! You would think that a partial fee would be refunded when a family member was not even a resident in the home for 10 days. The first two days seemed like good days after his admission, so I decided not visit every day because of the long commute from my home. BUT, On Sunday, Feb 3rd. I walked into his room to find him in disarray and sprawled out in his bed that was cranked up way off the floor, and the head of his bed raised to a uncomfortable position for sleeping and no one there to make sure he did not fall out of the bed. There was a bucket on the utility tray table, filled with cold water and other things on the table. I also saw that his Catheter bag was filling with darkened urine which is usually an indication that his intake of fluids was not happening and a UTI was developing. As I walked into the room , the floor was extremely sticky. The floor was worse in the bathroom. I am assuming the other resident in this double room had voided on the floor, as I had seen him do so on a previous visit and was not mopped up , therefore anyone who went into the bathroom walked through the urine would track it back into the room. I took pictures of all of this and then immediately went to the kitchen where the "two health care aides" were sitting at the table talking on their cell phones. I asked what was going on with my husband. So one aide came with me to the room and said she was going to give him a bath, but he went to sleep. I asked if he had had his breakfast and she said no, he was sleeping, then I asked about lunch and she said no lunch, because he was asleep. I said “ Well!!! it is 1:45 PM and he should have had something to eat by this time and has he been drinking liquids?” So she went to heat up some soup. At this time, I was sure that with no breakfast or lunch would mean most likely he had no liquids the entire morning or during the previous night. This I am sure was the cause of the dark urine. She brought his soup which should have been thoroughly pureed; she woke him up and started to feed him. I asked her to puree it more after he started getting choked. She went to puree it more, But it was not much better than before. I took the soup and fed him. I took the empty bowl to the kitchen where they were still at the table on Cell phones and went back to the room thinking they would be back in the room shortly to get him ready for the day. They never came to finish bathing him or anything until I went back to ask if they were coming to finish up and they said “ I thought we would do that after you leave.” I told them I am not leaving!. Then the two aides came in and cleaned him up and got him dressed and asked me if I wanted him in his wheel chair which I said yes. I asked for his water and they said it is in the refrigerator. I saw that the bottle of water that I brought the day he was admitted, Jan 29th, was there and it had not even been used at all. I started giving him a good amount of water. I wanted the aide to call Hospice and she said she would have to wait until Monday when her supervisor returned. I was in disbelief and called the Hospice Nurse myself. He seemed to have a slight fever and I was extremely concerned with his urine color. She arrived and stayed about an hour. By the time she had arrived he had become a bit more coherent because I had been pushing the liquids. When I left for the night, I requested fluids again until he was in bed for the night. Probably ignored my request again. On Monday, AM, I called the Avendelle head office and complained about what I saw and experienced on Sunday. I even sent the pictures of what I saw when I walked in. They were appalled and I received apologies and was told that the staff would be approached about what happened. I also asked for a meeting with the Avendelle home's staff, the administration, and aides. I also called Transitions Hospice asking their administrative staff and nurses to attend the meeting as well. I was surprised to be asked by the hospice nurse administrator "why I needed a meeting with so many people meeting because it might cause issues with everyone to be in this meeting". I said "I want everyone to hear what I have to say about my husband’s care and also I wanted everyone to be on the same page when caring for him." The meeting was set for Friday at 1 PM. I was too upset to go to visit that Monday afternoon, but I did call to check on him and they said “he was doing fine”. I did make a visit on Tuesday, but on Wednesday and Thursday we were having Very bad thunder storms so I did not visit but did call to check on him those days as well, and they said ”he was fine”. Friday arrived, and I was getting ready to visit before the 1:00 meeting. I received a call from the hospice nurse at 11:15 to tell me that my husband had passed away. I was expecting his death at some point in his Alzheimer’s journey but never expected his last days to be what he endured at Waterford Landing.