Gateway Transitional Care Center

Leslie42

My father was in the hospital for pneumonia and blood clot, he is 88 years old, and because he required follow-ups -- 6 weeks of antibiotic infusion -- he was discharged to the Gateway Transitional skilled nursing facility. He was there for 19 days. During that time, he did not have a phone although we requested one on a daily basis, his symptoms were not monitored, and the facility did not contact us with any change in his condition. When he fell and was in decline, they failed to follow the doctor's orders; they didn't take him to get a CT scan when it was ordered. They were not honest with their communication when they said they would do things that were vital to his well-being and safety. They did not provide any communication when I asked them if he'd been examined by their staff doctor; they couldn't tell me. The nurses would tell me that they couldn't get into his vitals, or they would tell me it was impossible to tell unless the doctor saw him and changed his order, and there was no order change, so therefore they couldn't tell if he's been examined. We called once a day because I did not want to overburden them; they would have to transfer down to the nurses' station, someone would get him out of bed, wheel him up to the nurses' station, and on one of those occasions, they put the wrong person on the phone, and when I said that was not my father I'm talking to, the nurse told me that that's the Robert Barry they know. So it was all pretty scary. I live out-of-state, we made two trips to visit him, and when I asked to talk to whoever is in-charge, one of the nurses said that they didn't know the name of the director. They only know that his first name is Steven. Then, I talked to the social worker, saying, "I need to talk to the Director of Nursing who called me." The director of nursing said that my dad was doing well and they were going to discharge him, and when I talked to the chief nurse, she said that she was going to order a portable X-ray because she felt like his health had declined. That's when she told me that he had fallen, but she couldn't tell me when or where. And I asked what kind of treatment he received when he fell, and she said we just asked him if anything hurts. My dad has osteoporosis, so he's got brittle bones. I talked to my brother, and we told the Director of Nursing that we were coming to get him out of this facility and take him to the emergency room. Before we got there that evening, they sent him over to the emergency room, and when I called the emergency room, they told me that my dad not only had his pneumonia rebounded, but he was so sick, he was septic, it was in his bloodstream, and that he developed this because of the lack of care. The emergency room nurse said there was no way he should ever have gotten that sick if they monitored him. I am very dissatisfied. My dad did not have a phone, the thermostats didn't work, and when we asked the staff if they could turn up the heat because people were freezing and cold, they told me that they didn't know how to. And then, the director, -- during the review that the State Audit did -- the director said, "Well, it is true that sometimes the thermostat would freeze when you try to adjust them, but they only lasted fifteen minutes." They know exactly that I filed the complaint with the State, and they were severely neglectful in two of the six patients that they audited. I am very unhappy. I wouldn't recommend them to anybody.