Piedmont Gardens Nursing Home

If I absolutely could not care for my parents on my own when they get older, or if they needed some type of medical assistance, I would definitely look for a place like Piedmont Gardens Nursing Home. Piedmont Gardens has three different levels of care: Residential, Assisted Living, and Skilled Nursing. The facility is located in a great area right off of Piedmont Ave in North Oakland, and the neighborhood feels safe with a variety of stores located on Piedmont Ave. The building itself has great security, as all visitors have to be buzzed in. I recently visited a family friend who was in the Assisted Living facility, and from what I saw of it, the facility is clean, the staff work hard, and the patients are happy with the care they are receiving. Call bells were answered promptly, staff members feeding patients did so with care, and the communal areas were clean and bright. Overall, one of the nicest facilities I have seen. No, everything is not perfect and there are things to improve, but, in general, things are pretty solid.

My mother was at this facility for 16 miserable years (1973-1989), following a major stroke. The misery was on all levels, for my mother, for her relatives and visitors and could have been prevented. Ruth J. was the charge nurse and made feeble efforts at dealing with the issues, but her staff was more of a cause of the misery than a solution.

My mother simply could not accept the loss of the right side of her body by the paralysis brought on by the stroke. She was fully able to communicate and she certainly did, screaming her discontent with her limitations. She needed pyschiatric help or counseling and got nothing, despite my urgings. Piedmont Gardens have/had lots of screamers.

Each case always struck me as tragic mishandling of a human life.

My mother was miserable everyday and constantly yelled out she wanted to die. She particularly yelled it at me. Visits were very difficult, but I went to make sure the staff was going the basics in a timely manner. The one thing the hospital did was well chart everything that went on, in reasonable detail. This allowed me to see daily short comings, that I will detail for anyone interested, but the continued stealing of her toothpaste was typical of the annoying issues they never got a handle on.

Finally one evening my mother spike a 106 degree fever. Beyond putting her to bed, nothing was done. Her doctor wasn't called, I wasn't called and there was no out of the ordinary treatment by staff. Finally a staff member I was friendly with, called me personally and told me the rest of the staff was going to let my mother lay there until she died. I rushed over and against there wishes called an ambulance and got my mother to a real hospital. She died 3 days later, despite appropriate care. The attending physician said had I gotten my mother there immediately, he could have save her and returned her to the level of life she had before the temperature spike. He wrote this in his report.

Typically Piedmont Gardens carefully charted the spike in temperature and the 24 hours of agony they made my mother go thru before I could rescue her.

By law, with my power of attorney, I am entitled and was given a copy of the charts of my mother the last week at Piedmont Gardens.

I took the charts, the doctor reports and my own detailed account and filed a complaint with the Health Department. Piedmont Gardens was cited for allowing this situation to happen, but little else came of it.

In my opinion Piedmont Gardens killed my mother, when she did not have to die. YOU MUST AVOID THIS FACILITY AT ALL TIMES.

Just so anyone doubts my objectivity, a few years later I put my Dad in a similar arrangement inob9 Baywood Court in Castro Valley and he had ten of the happiest years of his life. Baywood Court is a 5 Star ***** and Piedmont Gardens a 0 Star (no star)