NHC Healthcare, Charleston

JS8

My mom has been in NHC Healthcare Charleston for about a month. So far, I do not have any real issues with them. They seem caring, and it seems perfectly adequate. The staff is great; I do not have any complaints about them. The room is a typical rehab/nursing home environment. It’s perfectly clean, and the food appears adequate. She seems happy.

Caring82694650

NHC Assisted Living is a place that you would really appreciate putting loved ones in. The amenities were nice. The facility is nice and clean. The staff is friendly. They assist you with whatever that you need. They’ll do it right there for you. They offer outings to the mall, to the grocery store, and to different events that are happening in Charleston for those who can go on their own that need little assistance. They have bingo. They have aerobics. They have different activities for the residents.

sw1

This place was a nightmare. Several years ago they were excellent facility. I don't know if it's new ownership or management, but something has changed. First of all, let me say that most of the nursing staff were wonderful. There was only a couple that should be losing their nursing license for leaving a 71 year old amputee in his own waste for 3 hours. For 3 hours, he begged several different employees to help him clean up. They kept telling him it wasn't their job and they would get someone else. I wouldn't particularly want to do that either, but I didn't take a job in a nursing home. I don't know if these were nurses or assistants. He only has one leg and it was shattered in pieces fresh out of surgery, so he couldn't very well get up and go to the bathroom and no one would help him. There is a wonderful lady named Dawn, at their corporate offices that calmed me enough from this to not report them to the health dept. I'm not sure where the issue was with his physical rehab, but he came out of there with about 10% of the strength he went in with. Partially, him being in pain and not wanting to do much was his fault. However, he's been through physical therapy for 6 years now through surgeries and other rehab places seem to get him very involved and wanting to get up and be active. They just let him lie in bed for two months losing the muscles he had. Several items also disappeared from his room, but I wasn't there so I can't say another patient wasn't responsible. While he was there, his retina detached from his eye. He had to have surgery and has lost most vision in that eye. The surgeon told him to put an extra pillow where his missing leg would be to sleep in a certain position after the surgery. He said it was extremely important. He started asking for this pillow at 5 and didn't get it until after midnight. Discharge time became very exciting. I had told the social worker, Jo, exactly what I had discussed with his surgeon about what he needed to do before he would be able to come home. He needed to be able to get in and out of his wheelchair and into the bathroom by himself because he's home alone a lot when I have to work. I regularly asked a variety of nurses if he would be safe to come home alone and every single one said "no". I advised the so called "social worker" that it was completely impossible for him to be safe until the rehab was done. I feel he aged five years in the two months at this facility. She was irate that I would question her opinion. She completely convinced my dad he was ready to go home and acted like I was like some evil step daughter trying to dump an elderly man off forever. She actually accused me of neglecting my father and attacked me about where his social security check was going and told him to report being neglected or taken advantage of at home. Every single neighbor, friend, relative, coworker and doctor that knows Dad would strongly disagree and knows that my ex-husband and I have taken good care of my dad through the past 7 years. The last two years it is only me taking care of him, the house, and my 7 year old. This was an extremely painful accusation especially since we have given up a lot in order to keep my dad at home. Then, right before Christmas, I received a call from the "social worker" who said I had to take him home the next day. It is impossible for me to care for a 6'6 man and be at work and raise a young child all at once. They were paid very well to help him get his strength back so he could take care of himself while I was gone. When I questioned why they would only give us one day notice, she snapped at me that it was a day and a half. His insurance was up. All she had to do was make an effort to find another place they would cover, but she just wanted to shove him out the door because I had complained to her corporate boss. I told her I was absolutely not bringing him home to find him fallen in the floor badly hurt or worse. She spoke to me like I have never been spoken to before. I called around the clock to check in with different nurses and each said he wasn't ready. I applaud the nurses for following their moral guidelines they have and being honest with me which is why I won't mention names so no one gets in trouble for being a TRUE nurse. They have some fantastic ones. The wonderful corporate lady did work it out for him to stay another few days, which the social worker came to my dad and tried to get credit for. She pushed and pushed and swore up and down that he was perfectly fine. Then, I asked her when was the last time she, personally saw him even get out of bed. She admitted that she had never seen him get up one time. He couldn't even hardly get out of the hospital bed. I knew I was making a mistake bringing him home so early, but she had him convinced he was ready and I couldn't take arguing with him or her about it one more day. HUGE MISTAKE!!! When it comes to your family, trust your instincts. I tried to insist they provide a rehab person to do a home visit with him before he was actually released, just like the surgeon suggested I do. They need to make sure the person can get to their kitchen and learn to use his electric wheelchair now that he's lost vision in one eye. She vehemently refused. That is covered by insurance by the way. He had a bad fall off the wheelchair ramp. The wheelchair landed on him and broke his foot and cut a huge gash on his knee. For someone with diabetes and heart failure, something like this could mean life or death. For now, it's the difference between whether he ever gets to come home to be with grandson who is his one joy or live the rest of his life in a nursing home. And surprisingly, all along he had another 28 days or rehab!! Medicare offers a certain amount of hospital days and rehab days. All of this was unnecessary. Now, we have to start the whole process over. I am worried writing this because these people have my address, but if this helps one person it's worth it. I've waited two weeks before writing this. I was hoping I'd calm down and decide not to. After seeing my dad in his new rehab place of only four days, he's already acting like his old self again. They have him up every day like they're suppose to. So I had to write it. So odd how another social worker found him a place with no problem.