5 of 8

Write now Article Tools

As an EMT in the Greater Boston Area of Massachusetts I see a lot of nursing home mistakes and neglect that are covered up and/or ignored. One way they mask their neglect is by calling ambulances by 800 and 888 numbers instead of dialing 911. Then they claim that their care is so good that they never had to call 911 all year. The problem is that when a Boston ambulance is two minutes away by calling 911 when a patient is having chest pain or symptoms of a stroke and they call my ambulance by an 888 number which is in another town and then has to cross into Boston and through rush hour traffic it can take much longer. When every second counts in these medical emergencies this is too dangerous to the patient. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has been told about this and ignores it. I have taken many patients suffering from preventable infections to emergency rooms where the doctors told me the infections were caused by neglect in cleaning the patients. When the doctors give us a referral to give to the nursing home telling the nursing home they need to keep the patient cleaner the nursing home nurses respond, "Our company policy is to shower patients only every three days." Massachusetts's judges have tried to close down many nursing homes and instead are told they must remain open because there is no other place to put the patients. The nursing homes get fines from the state but continue these disgusting policies. Many people think all nursing homes smell but they do not. The good ones have no bad smells because they clean more often and take better care of their patients. Their patients have the same disorders and diseases as the smelly nursing homes. There is no excuse for a nursing home to smell and if your parent is in a nursing home that smells transfer them as soon as possible. The food served to patients trying to stay healthy is terrible but the nursing homes bill insurance companies and families for quality food they do not serve. I have seen cancer patients given a dinner of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. I've seen stroke patients served sloppy joes and grilled cheese sandwiches. This is a menu for a sixth grader not an eighty-year-old cancer patient with diabetes and high blood pressure recovering from multiple heart attacks. Many of the staff barely speak English and have little medical knowledge. They often do not recognize the signs of stroke and heart attack and call our ambulance reporting a patient with stable vitals and minor confusion. When our dispatcher is told they have stable vitals we are not allowed to use lights and sirens. After half an hour in rush hour traffic our ambulance shows up to find a patient in cardiac arrest or stroke. The blood pressure the nurses reported to be stable was 80/40 with a pulse of 140 that was taken an hour before they called the ambulance. We EMTs report these mistakes but we see nothing done about it. Even the names are misleading. Many nursing homes are called "Nursing & Rehab". A "Nursing & Rehab" is just a smelly nursing home with one tiny room for physical therapy that claims they can take care of patients needed rehabilitation from injuries. Many thirty-something car accident victims who did not wear a seat belt find themselves trapped in a smelly nursing home with a eighty-year-old Alzheimer's patient as their roommate screamed all night keeping them awake. A Rehabilitation Hospital is the proper place for these injured people. If you or your family get injured and need rehab then insist you go to a Rehabilitation Hospital and not a "Nursing & Rehab".

Learn more about this author, Matthew Gage.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Problems in nursing homes?
We want to hear your view. Write now!