Brushy Creek Post Acute Greer, South Carolina 29650
My mother went to Brushy Creek with a bad UTI and not able to walk. They got her walking and she was much better. When her Medicare would no longer pay for her PT, they put her in a wheelchair and would no longer allow her to walk because no one was trained to assist her in case she was to fall. At 89, she decided that she was able to walk herself to the restroom with her walker as well as the dining room table. They didn't want her doing that so they put her on oxygen. She was given a tank on the back of her wheelchair and the box tank beside her bed. When they needed to talk her somewhere (bathroom, table, etc) they used the tank on her chair. When they didn't want her to be able to move, they hooked her to the box beside her bed and wrapped it around and around the handle of the wheelchair leaving her approximately 3-4 feet to move. They also hid her call button underneath her mattress so that she could not see it or use it. She sat in a wheelchair and declined rapidly over the next 3 weeks. Her right foot began turning inward, she got depressed, wasn't eating, loss 14 pounds. got dehydrated and developed a UTI. They taped a DNR to her mirror and asked me to sign it. I felt like they were planning on her dying soon, possibly due to them knowing she had a UTI and they were not treating her for it. She was not eating or drinking and her BP was very low. They didn't test her for UTI for two weeks after I asked them to. I complained to the Director or Nursing and the assistant DON. The next day I went to visit my mom and she was restrained by the oxygen hose again. She said one of the CNA's had told her that she had been running her mouth and they wanted her to sit right there and not move. Three days later at my insistence, an ambulance was called and she was taken next door to the hospital where they said her UTI was so bad, they could smell it in the ER room, she was also severally dehydrated. She was discharged from the hospital 4 days later only to find out that Brushy Creek had not held her room. I contacted the Administrator Lindsay Cottingham but she would not return my calls. The social worker from the hospital who was trying to discharge my mother also called and Lindsay told her "she was complaining on us a week ago, why does she want to come back." I had nowhere to move my mother and she was stuck in the hospital. I called the regional director Mark Millet who assured me he would investigate and call me back but never did. I called the corporate office in Utah, Providence Group, only to be told that I need to speak to Mark the regional director again. Of course, he didnt not answer my calls. Three days later, we went to retrieve my mother's personal items and the had moved someone into her room and put her belongings into a closet. Numerous items were missing including her wheelchair and walker, shoes, clothes, bedding, hygiene items, family pictures, wall pictures, house plants, etc. Brushy Creek was able to locate her walker because we spotted it in another patients room. They had furnished him with a walker to use. It had to be cleaned before they could give it back to us. They have never found her remaining items and refuse to tell us to to contact regarding mediation or an insurance claim. 2.5 weeks later my mom went to a wonderful place where she is walking, laughing, making crafts and eating well again. THE new place calls my mom their little miracle. In hindsight, someone was looking out for my mama when they didn't let her go back there to be further mistreated.
While it is a nice looking facility, what goes on behind closed doors is a different story. Pop in at 2am and find call buttons going off while CNAs are asleep at their stations. Go anytime and see CNAs on their cell phones while call buttons are going off. Nurses are hard to find because they have two cottages per nurse (24 patients) so they are all over the place. Listen to the way CNAs talk to the patients when they think no one is listening.
It's a shame that our government doesn't have advocates that go in and close they door and speak to patients one on one. It is a shame that there is not an agency that you can complain to even if it is not your relative when you see someone being mistreated or cursed and they have no family visiting them.
At this point, all I want is my mother's personal belongings or to go through mediation with Brushy Creek. I would NEVER put another family members in this facility.