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.