Dear Friends, Elizabeth needs your support. We are still in the middle of a crisis with her nursing home.
As you may remember, the residents of her nursing home have to be out by August 16
th!
We found a place for her nine miles out of town and made a reservation on Monday, July 8
th.
Then, on July 9
th we were even more fortunate when we met with a nurse named
Rebecca from Arbor Hospice who told us that she would place Mother on the waiting list for a room at Arbor Hospice. Obviously, Logan and I were concerned about being on a waiting list. You know, a bird in the hand vs two in the bush. But
Rebecca assured us repeatedly after calling and talking with someone on the phone that she was positive that there would be a place for Mother by August 16
th which was 5 weeks away at that time. Please understand that I have a reputation for flogging dead horses. I asked repeatedly to make sure that she knew what she was talking about and I made sure that she knew we were giving up a space at another nursing home. We also discussed that 72 other people were being displaced and that this would make it virtually impossible for Mother to find something agreeable if she was wrong.
Rebecca asked us if we would like to go ahead and sign Mother up for hospice care at the nursing home during the meantime while she was waiting for her room at Arbor Hospice. We decided this would be a good idea and this is what we did.
There were many reasons why this was the best decision but I am not going to take up your time listing them all here today.
Two days ago, a case worker named Pat Bower met with Mother, Logan and myself for a long while. I found it strange that the first thing she asked when she came into my Mother's room was about the neighborhood where I live. Why did she need to know about my neighborhood when she was visiting at my Mother's nursing home? Was she interested in my
socio-economic status? That is what it felt like to me.
After our visit she invited me down the hall saying to my Mother that what she needed to talk with me about was private and probably something that we shouldn't talk about in front of her. I didn't care for the fact that she actually made a resident move and that she turned the television down so that we could have our conversation. The room is rather large and there was only one resident in the room. We could have chosen another place to sit instead of
inconveniencing the resident.
At that point she proceeded to tell me that Mother was not going to have a room at Arbor Hospice and that the rooms at Arbor Hospice are not "used for her particular type of needs". All the while she was smiling! I heard myself say "why are you smiling" She said "I'm wasn't aware I was smiling" as she continued to smile! Excuse me? She qualified for your program, your organization is receiving funds to care for her needs, but you suddenly don't want to provide what was promised?
Understandably, I was quite taken aback by her comments and the suggestion that Arbor Hospice might not honor their original commitment to Elizabeth. I was shocked. But then I realized that this had to be a huge mistake!
The past two days I have been very busy talking with everyone I can and doing everything in my power to get this situation back on track. This morning I spoke with Sheila Hay who is one of the Directors at Arbor Hospice. She is working diligently to straighten this out. While I imagine that Ms. Bower was trying to do her job, she and I did not connect.
Mother does not know what is going on, but she does know something is up because there is so much activity with everyone being moved from
Riverview. I was told by the Ombudsman on Sunday that the resident population was already down to 32. Yesterday I was told that the population is not that low and is still around 40 residents. I'm not sure of the exact number but people are being moved at a rate of two or three a day. Employees are finding new jobs and leaving as they need to go. Imagine trying to work in this environment and worry about your job security at the same time! Things are rapidly changing. Elizabeth feels the tension.
Logan and I are exhausted. We are eager to see Elizabeth settled once again and as I said earlier, I hope that this is all just a simple misunderstanding and that Rebecca's promise to us will be honored. We are looking forward to having Mother transferred to Arbor Hospice no later than August 16
th. My sister Ann will be coming for a visit on or around August 14
th and is looking forward to seeing Mother in her new room.
You've all been such wonderful friends to Elizabeth these past seven months with your cards and emails.
I have a request and I hope that you will do this.
Here's what I'm asking you to do for Elizabeth.
Will you please send an
email to Arbor Hospice, thanking them for helping Elizabeth, letting them know that you would like to see Elizabeth settled as soon as possible. And will you please ask others to do the same.
Thanking you all in advance. The address for Arbor Hospice is below as well as a sample email that you can copy and paste if you like.
Hugs and Love,
Donna "Cookie"
Gotlibinfo@arborhospice.orgDear Arbor Hospice:I am a friend of Elizabeth Childree and am very concerned about the current situation surrounding her living arrangements. Please honor the commitments that your RN Rebecca made to Logan Hopper and Donna "Cookie" Gotlib last Tuesday, July 8th and move Elizabeth to a room at Arbor Hospice before August 16, 2008.I look forward to reading in Cookie's blog that Elizabeth is safe and sound in her room at Arbor Hospice. 
