Facility #2, 3, 4, and 5, Interview with Steve

So, my oncologist did not discover I had a tumor until it was 15 pounds, and it was too much for them to handle. They referred me to a hospital who in turn referred me to a medical center and I had to be approved by a committee of 5 doctors there because of the advanced tumor and my age. They finally agreed that they would do surgery, and four doctors took 7 hours to remove the 15-pound tumor, my prostate and my bladder. Then I was at a facility for 11 months for rehab, then I moved to [facility #2] closer to home where I was a resident for well over a year. Unfortunately, at that facility as I reported to KABC earlier, there were some very serious medicine mix-ups. I called it to their attention and management and the final straw was when a 4 pm in the afternoon and a med tech came in my room and said “Steve, why did you order these COPD medicines, you’re not sneezing, you’re not coughing, you’re not congested” and I said, “I didn’t order them” and he responded that a nurse called and ordered them that morning. I then responded, “I didn’t see a nurse today”. What happened was that someone on staff at that facility #2 did an exam of a different patient and then called it in to my pharmacy and my doctor; it was a total mix-up. And that previous month, I had 3 medication mix-ups in my daily medication that had to get straightened out. The thing is, I’m not in rehab, I’m on Hospice and I’m counting on the organization to take care of me. 

So, I left there and went to a different facility (facility #3). I was there for 27 or 28 days, and it was really very depressing because the place is dark: it’s not well managed. The manager had no training in facility’s management, or restaurant management. At facility #3, I was probably 25 or 30 feet from the kitchen; I got cold food every day. Most of the people there were what I would say as post-vocal. They are mainly silent. A lot of them grumbled to themselves. They don’t have the energy to say, “hey, take this food back” or “I want it warmed up”. Some of them don’t have any advocates. In that facility, I found out that they had very weak nursing staff. When I say “weak”, I would say, poorly trained. At least two of the nurses were impaired and I had two or three meetings with top management there to explain things. Even simple things like they had the kitchen door put on backwards. People kept bumping into each other, I mean it was so silly. The other thing is, as an example, the cake, you had to cut it with a knife and fork because it was so hard. I said to the director, “can’t you please follow the recipe on the box or bag about how to make a cake?” and it never came out any better. The place lacked good maintenance. Because of the food and the staffing issues, I left and went to another facility (facility #4).