Birch Patrick Convalescent Center

Dania Cabrera

Will update after the 7 day stay… My grandmother has been here since Thursday night. The staff has been okay. They try to answer questions but some don’t seem knowledgeable in their area of “expertise.” They have been friendly with my grandmother but sometimes it takes THREE tries to get someone to go to the room. The worse interaction thus far has been with Dr. Pecherskiy. After my grandmother spent over a week fearing a possibility of an amputation, he joked about it. He joked that they would have to ampute her leg. He later said he was just kidding. It is HIGHLY INSENSITIVE and EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL to joke about that and have her relive that trauma. Where is his bedside manner? I will also be reporting this incident to management and other agencies.

K Lyall

My experience comes from my mother who had a tiny fracture on her leg and was supposed to go to Birch Patrick for two weeks. She also has Alzheimer's. She went to this facility to get rehabilitation for the fracture and wore a brace that was strapped on. She got the flu almost immediately. I witnessed a staff care giver going between my mother and another pt in the room with the same disposable gloves. I think this sloppy practice is how they carelessly transfer the flu between patients. My mother became weak from the flu, but she also has kidney disease which was completely ignored as she became dehydrated. She also needed help drinking and eating - which my father did twice a day and got her to eat 100% during the times he was there. However, aside from that, she was not taking in much fluid. Her dehydration became severe but was not diagnosed until my sister and I questioned the nursing staff about my mother's lethargy and discoloration in her injured leg. The nurse said she would contact a doctor to request labs. Once the labs revealed she was dehydrated, they treated her but her sodium remained high. I questioned her kidney function but got blank looks from nursing. In the three weeks she was there, she had one shower and because she had the flu and was dehydrated, she became totally lethargic as she laid in bed. I finally contacted her nephrologist and asked that their office request the labs and determine what was happening. The nephrologist did do that and immediately told them to transfer her to the ER from which she went to the ICU. Had I not done this, it is very likely my mother would have progressed into total failure and yet this progression was ignored by the medical team until the outside doctor told them to send her to the ER. I was told that doctors see patients once a month at Birch Patrick, but it's unclear how involved they are in what is happening with patients. This is not a good situation with someone who is elderly in rehab. Prior to my mother's experience at this facility she was walking with a walker, eating on her own and she was continent and incontinent about half the time for each. She was able to descend and climb stairs and carry on short conversations. Now, after losing 11 pounds in 3 weeks and having the flu and severe dehydration...she is a different person, totally weak, barely able to talk, has a persistent cough, is sleeping a lot and cannot really walk or feed herself. I believe she did suffer neglect at Birch Patrick. Also, she was wearing a brace on her injured leg, I think 24 hrs a day and they never removed it - she developed a wound on her leg from the brace which was photographed in the ICU and I am not sure what the orders were for the brace but the wound was about and inch and a half. She was supposed to go to Birch Patrick for rehab but after her initial walking of 300 feet with the brace, she never really walked again. She was confined to bed. I was told by many of the staff that because she had Alzheimer's that her weakness was a result of that, though they completely ignored what was happening with her kidney function which was failing. I wouldn't consider this good medical care for anyone. If you care about your elderly loved one I recommend you look elsewhere - it has been a terrible experience to see how they blame Alzheimer's for something that is medical and then neglect due diligence in treating the medical issue, until family members get outside help. Truly disgusting. My mother would have been better off if we had just taken her home and tried to care for her ourselves than to go to Birch Patrick - get the flu and then get dehydrated while we trusted that we were doing the best thing for her by leaving her in the care of "professionals."