Caley Ridge Assisted Living, Colorado - Elder Abuse - Our Nightmare Part 7

“I’m so sorry,” my mother sobbed.

What does she have to be sorry about?  She did nothing wrong.  Caley Ridge Assisted Living didn’t apologize for their choices.

My mother then told the whole lurid story about what happened to her.

“I begged him to slow down!  He wouldn’t listen to me.”

She begged him.  She was afraid.  He didn’t listen to her.

“Why didn’t he listen?” Mother wept uncontrollably. 

Do you know what it is like to see your loved one weeping.  She was in so much pain physically.  In addition, the emotional pain and suffering was equal.  She loved this man - this driver.  She loved her friends at Caley Ridge and loved her staff at Caley Ridge Assisted Living. 

The staff at Caley Ridge betrayed her.  They betrayed her trust and our trust.  They didn’t protect her.  They didn’t take appropriate action.  They made her suffer and endure this. 

I am sure she felt so alone and so disappointed.

Life isn’t fair, I understand that and accept it.  This isn’t about fairness.  This is about basic human rights and injustice against my mother.  Unfortunately, I am sure others have suffered similar injustices.

She went into heart failure that night.  The shock and trauma was too great for her body to manage.  They couldn’t do surgery to stabilize the broken femur and ease some of her pain.  Instead they had to fight to save her life.

All this because Caley Ridge Assisted Living Failed to take appropriate action in protecting my mother.

Caley Ridge Assisted Living, Colorado - Elder Abuse - Our Nightmare - Part 6

“Nancy, your mom had a little fall.  We are sending her to the hospital,” the staff at Caley Ridge Assisted Living.

A little fall they tell her minimizing the whole accident.

“Is she hurt?” my sister asked groggily.  She was recovering from surgery herself.

“She may be hurt this time,” responded the staff person at Caley Ridge Assisted Living.

 ”Do I need to hurry?” asked my sister.  

“No, no need to hurry,” replied Caley Ridge Assisted Living.

They did not explain to my sister what had happened at all.  They didn’t even act as if it were important.  They notified my sister and essentially communicated to her it was no big deal. 

 Because of the communication with Caley Ridge, my sister did not sense she needed to race there.  She pulled herself together and her friend just dropped her off at Sky Ridge Hospital. 

 My sister walked into the room where she was supposed to be and nobody was there.  This puzzled her.  She asked what was going on and no one would tell her except to say she was in x-ray. 

Can you imagine what it felt like to walk into a hospital room to check on your loved one and they aren’t there?  That was her first inkling something was going on. 

Eventually, they brought our mother back into the room.  She took one look at my sister and started sobbing.

I imagine the scene at Sky Ridge.  I imagine my sister’s confused and dazed look.  I see my mother’s pale and drawn face.  I am sure these are not unusual experiences in the emergency room at Sky Ridge.  I imagine they are just going about their business. 

In my mind’s eye I see my mother and my sister.  I wasn’t there, but somehow I see the suffering in her face.  She is in pain.

It was unnecessary for this to happen.  The decisions that the driver and the Caley Ridge staff made that day impacted the life of my mother and her children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.  The ramifications are still being experienced today.

Caley Ridge Assisted Living, Colorado - Elder Abuse - Our Nightmare Part 5

“Mary,” my sister said, “after the long drive back to Caley the “Professionals” evaluated her and decided that they better call 911.”

” They made her endure bouncing on the floor of a van with a broken leg before making that determination.  Can you imagine that?”

I couldn’t imagine it.  Why didn’t they listen to my mother.  She knew she needed help.  No one listened.

The “Professionals” at Caley Ridge Assisted Living failed to take precautions in over seeing my mother’s well-being.  I am not in the medical field, but I can tell you that making her bounce around with a broken leg is not appropriate.  Common sense would tell most of us to pull over, get the patient/client comfortable and call 911.  

“The ambulance came and took her to Sky Ridge Hospital.  They are the ones who called me,” continued my sister.  (I was incorrect.  Please see Part 6 for correction.)

“When I arrived, she was in xrays.  No one had bothered calling the police.  So, I called and each county did not want to accept responsibility.”

Caley Ridge didn’t even call the police.  No great surprise.

Mother went into Caley Ridge Assisted living because she couldn’t live on her own any more.  She needed assistance but she was far from dying.  She found friends and a social life.  She found a home.  What she didn’t expect to find was neglect and abuse.

Caley Ridge Assisted Living - Elder Abuse - Our Nightmare Part 4

“No. don’t call 911.  Bring her back here and we will assess her.”

That is what Caley Ridge Assisted Living told the driver to do.  The “professionals” at Caley Ridge knowing that my mother likely had a broken leg instructed the driver to drive her to the facility and NOT call 911.  He did as he was told.

“Mary, he then drove her back to Caley Ridge.  Mary, he left her laying on the floor of van with a broken leg and she bounced on the floor all the way back to Caley.”

With those words my sister’s voice broke. 

“Oh, my God!” I thought to myself.   My body cringed as I felt what she must have gone through.  Why would they instruct him to do that?  If you have ever broken anything, you know how painful it is to touch, to move.  Bouncing around on the floor of the van.  That just doesn’t make sense. 

“Why didn’t they have him call 911 and come and get her?” I asked.

“I don’t have a clue,” responded my sister.  “It’s bad, Mary.  You’ve got to come.”

I sat there dumbfounded.  I tried to think.  My energy had been zapped from me.   I didn’t know what to say or what to do.   I was sick to my stomach.   I never ever anticipated this. 

I hung up the phone.  I thought about how my mother absolutely loved living at Caley Ridge.  Yes there were some issues, but she was willing to let them go so she could stay with her friends.  She was very active in the Caley Ridge community.    She liked her little apartment.  I had visited her there just 8 months before and she proudly introduced her friends to me.  

I wonder how she felt, besides the pain, about them not taking immediate action and making her suffer.  Did she feel betrayed?  Was she disappointed?  Did she even think about it?  Was her pain so great she couldn’t even think?

As I sit here writing this I agonize that she had to endure that.  It is only, though, the first part of the story - perhaps the most important part, because it was the precursor of what was to come.

Abuse, neglect, failure to oversee is never okay.  NEVER.  It happens too frequently and it has to stop.  Our elderly, like our children, deserve to be kept safe.  We entrust them to their care expecting them to fullfill their responsibilities and they don’t.

Our nightmare  continues in part 5.

Caley Ridge Assisted Living, Colorado - Elder Abuse - Our Nightmare - Part 3

“When I hit bumps in the road, she expressed pain.”

Is the driver talking to 911.  NO!  These are the actual words he said when he had finally pulled over and called Caley Ridge Assisted Living to find out what to do now.  What was he thinking?  Had Caley Ridge not trained him on how to respond to an emergency? 

“He lifted her out of the seat and placed her on the floor of the van,” my sister continued to tell me.

“He moved her by himself?” I asked.  Why would he put her on the floor?  I was still lost as to why he would call the facility and not 911. 

 I can only imagine the fear my mother endured and the pain as he moved her from hanging upside down onto the floor of the van.   Her screams and tears were going unheard. 

How many screams and tears go unheard from our elderly when they are subjected to such abuse?  I’ve heard about it, but having a family member actually endure it was more than I could take.  Sad to say I was going to have to hear a lot more.

“That isn’t the worst of it,” my sister continued with her voice choking up.  She had been with mother in the emergency room and knew the whole story.

“How much worse could this be?” I thought to myself.  I would soon find out.

Has anyone out there experienced anything similar?  How did you feel about it?  I know we feel, even now, pretty awful about it.  I will share more in part 4.   

Caley Ridge Assisted Living, Elder Abuse in Colorado - Our Nightmare - Part 2

“Help me.  Call 911.  My leg is broken!”

Those were the screams of my mother as she hung upside down from her seat belt after the Caley Ridge driver took the turn too fast. Although I wasn’t there, I could hear those screams go unanswered in my head.  What must have gone through her head at that moment?  How scared she must have been.

“Mary, he kept driving!” exclaimed my sister.  “The driver from Caley Ridge Assisted Living in Englewood, Colorado kept driving and did NOT call 911.  How insane is that!  Who does that?”

I held the phone in disbelief.  It was as if my thoughts were in slow motion trying to catch up with the world.

Trying to give this person the benefit of the doubt, I asked “Was he driving her to the hospital?”

“No!” My sister said.  She sounded really angry, but she had some time for this to sink in already.

I couldn’t comprehend that.  If not to the hospital, then where?  I was trying so hard to make logical sense of this.  What was going through his head? Was he frightened about the accident?  Accidents happen.  Did he think he was going to get in trouble?  Was he thinking about what to do?  I didn’t get it. 

All I could think about was my 74 year old mother hanging upside down from her seatbelt in the van from Caley Ridge Assisted Living.    What was going through her head?  She must have been so scared.

If you have experienced similar stories of elder abuse, neglect from assisted living homes or nursing homes or hospitals, please comment.  I would like to hear from you.  The nightmare at Caley Ridge Assisted Living continues in Part 3.

Caley Ridge Assisted Living, Colorado - Our Nightmare - Part 1

“Mary, you need to come to Colorado.  Mother has been in an accident and it doesn’t look like she is going to make it.”

These were the words spoken by my sister with a lot of fear and anxiety in her voice.  It was January 16, 2007 and just an ordinary day.    I was stunned and definitely not prepared for this.  You know, it was out of the blue.  I couldn’t believe it as I had just spoken with her the other day and she was upbeat.  It was surreal - unreal.  I thought I was in the midst of a nightmare and in a second I would wake up and realize it was just another bad dream.

“Are you there?” asked my sister.  There was that voice again. 

“What happened?” I forced myself to ask.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.   

“Mother had a doctor’s appointment this morning and they were driving back.  The driver had taken a turn too fast and she was flipped upside down out of the seat because she wasn’t strapped in correctly. ”

“What? How could she have been strapped in wrong?”  I was still in a state of disbelief.  This was more than I could digest.  Mother in an accident? She might die?

How could this happen?  Can you imagine something like that happening?  They strapped her in wrong and she was disabled.   How difficult could it be to strap her in right?  I couldn’t comprehend it. 

Has this ever happened to you?  Have you gone through something like this with an assisted living place or nursing home or anywhere else?  If so, I would like to hear from you. 

Caley Ridge Assisted Living, Colorado - Our Nightmare - Part 2 soon to come.  You won’t believe what happened next.