"My mom is in Harborview Health Systems Georgetown. It's a nursing home, and it's very attractive when you enter. It's very clean and it seems to be pretty well-staffed at this time, which is unusual. Anything I requested for her has been seen. She's also under hospice care at this time, which they work with closely. So for the last few months, I've been pleased with her care. She's comfortable, clean, and warm. That's important right now because she's 101.
She's in a 2-bedroom, there's plenty of room, and it's always clean. There have been mishaps but it's cleaned up by the next evening or day that I'm there. There are windows in each room, which is nice.
The staff was very friendly and helpful. They also call me when there's any change, which I appreciate. They work with hospice, I call them, they work well together, and if there's a need, they answer. I've noticed a few things. She had an infection and the nurse at Harborview got online and got her medication once I showed it to her. It's been better so I think they do react fairly quickly when I may have made a request.
Her food is nectar water, which is thick, and the food she receives is ground up so it's not good. Some of them are bland like baby food and because of swallowing problems, they put nectar in her drinks. She's gotten used to that. I'm not tasting the food though, their ham is not good at all. The chicken, she seems to tolerate sometimes, but they do add applesauce and puddings, and things that are easy for her to swallow. She likes things sweet, and she does well swallowing them so they always provide something like that on her tray.
I think they have to do that for people with that diet. I think they have to be careful. A few times, it's been over-peppered, over seasoned, and burned her mouth. I hate to criticize it because I think they do the best they can with what they have to deal with, grinding her food up. I don't know if they could improve that.
From what I've seen, the maintenance and upkeep are very good. They had a group of young children paint pictures on their windows, which was sweet. I think they're from a local school. They have a wonderful beautician. She's so sweet and worked with giving her haircut correctly because she can't get her out of bed. They've worked hard to help me with that because she needed to wash her hair. The hospice does some of it too but Harborview will do anything as well. The majority of their staff is very friendly and helpful.
Of course, they do laundry too. They have a shower room that she's gone into, with hospice, to get some type of bathing done. I think they have activities. They've called me because she cannot participate, but they put out a little flier every day with what activities are on. The residents there have bingo and they're able to go outside in some areas. I'm just observing but we haven't done that with my mom. I do see that happening and I do read the flier for the patients that are there listing activities that are going to go on.
The menus for lunch and dinner are also posted on this paper that comes out. They have an activity coordinator who called and was interested in trying to find something that she could do, which I appreciate. They contacted me to see if there was anything that she liked. I think there's a chaplain base there too but I'm using the hospice's chaplain for her. I do believe they have ministers there as well that will come from the local churches.
Their price is probably a little bit lower than some. The range I noticed was from $7000 to $10000 so we're more on the lower end with it being almost $8000 a month, and that's out of pocket because her Medicare was used up in the hospitals and care units. From what I've seen, and I've also called other places, they're probably a little less expensive than some.
They do have one problem sometimes that they need to address. I think it's a problem with getting people to work. The place is locked and the front desk has to let you in. You have to take your temperature too, which is great, but quite often there's no one present at that desk, and you might have to wait quite a while to get in. Or you have to make the alarm go off for them to turn off. That is the one weakness. They run and try to do it, but sometimes the nurses on the floor or the aides have to come and do it too. There is not really anyone that's there in the evening, permanently. They need some night's help, I guess. They probably need someone watching the door and letting people in from, I'd say, 5-9 shifts or somewhere in there.
The staff is very pleasant and helpful though. I have not run into anyone sharp or refusing to do anything or are acting like they have a temper. Some are just more pleasant, friendly and comforting. Some are just in a big hurry because they have a lot to do and that's the only difference I see. I've never seen rudeness or anything like that."
.png&w=256&q=75){kind=small}
