Kathleen A. Gagne

Kathie Gagne died 4,582 days ago.

July 26th, 2012 @ 4:39 pm

I just got a call from Nurse Dawn at Woodland Terrace. She was calling to let me know that mom was now back there for the night. She said that mom had been taken to Halifax Hospital, but was “turned away because of overcrowding,” and was “diverted” to Fish Memorial.

Unfortunately she called while I was standing in the middle of a restroom — I didn’t think it was appropriate to explain the whole story about how upset April was that they were telling people that while I was in a bathroom — so I asked her if I could call her right back. She said okay.

I called about two minutes later and Rachel answered the phone. I asked her if I could speak to Nurse Dawn and she told me she would page her for me.

A few seconds later a man answered the phone and said, “West wing.” I said, “Hi. I’m trying to reach Dawn.”

There was a moment of confusion because the man thought I was asking for someone named Don. When he realized that I was looking for Nurse Dawn, he said that she was unable to come to the phone because she was in the middle of a procedure with a patient. I told him I thought she was probably in the room with my mother, Kathie Gagne, since she had just called me less than three minutes earlier, but he said she was not in mom’s room but was down the hall and had put on sterile gloves for a procedure and couldn’t come to the phone.

He asked for my name and number and said he would have Dawn call me as soon as she could. I told him that I was David and Dawn definitely already had my number, since she had just called me.

He said, “Okay. And what’s your last name?”

I replied, “Gagne,” and he said, “G – A – G – N – E – Y.”

I said, “No Y,” and he said, “Oh, okay. No Y. And what’s your number?”

Rather than argue, I just gave him my number and he said he’d have Dawn call me as soon as she was done.

Update: It’s after midnight here in Los Angeles and I haven’t heard from anyone at Woodland Terrace.

100% Not True

July 26th, 2012 @ 2:47 pm

I just called April, the charge nurse at the Halifax Hospital Emergency Room. I wanted to let her know that my mom had been found, because she had been so kind when I spoke to her an hour ago. I didn’t want her to be keeping an eye out for my mom since she was apparently not headed for Halifax today.

I told April exactly what Susan, the Director of Nursing at Woodland Terrace, had told me: That the non-emergency transport had taken mom to Halifax but was told that the ER there was “in diversion”, so she was sent to Fish Memorial in Orange City.

April was aghast.

She said, “We haven’t diverted a patient in fifteen years,” and, “That is 100% not true.” She added, “I can bet my life on that.” She was quite clearly upset.

April asked for the name and number of the person who had told me that because she wanted to tell her it was “absurd” that Halifax would ever turn anyone away. She said that Halifax Hospital’s Emergency Room simply “does not divert” and that they never tell anyone a “wait time”, so she had no idea why anyone would have been saying there was a three or four hour wait anywhere. She said she was more offended than mad.

April told me that yes, sometimes there is a wait, but they are never “in diversion” and she was upset that anyone would tell a family member that.

I told April that I didn’t want her to yell at Susan at Woodland Terrace because they are, y’know, taking care of my mom and I didn’t want them to think I was a troublemaker or anything; that I was only calling April to let her know that my mom had been found and I wasn’t trying to stir the pot or anything like that.

She said, “I apologize, but [what they told you] was absolutely false. God forbid, if your mother ever has to return, we’d be happy to have her.”

Lost and Found

July 26th, 2012 @ 1:47 pm

At 1:47PM PDT I called Nikki at (386) 238-2285 because I still haven’t received word that mom has arrived at the Halifax ER. There was no answer and the call went to her voice mail; I didn’t leave a message.

At 1:48PM PDT I called (386) 254-4080, the main number for the Halifax Psychiatric Center where mom had been from mid-January to mid-March. I thought maybe they simply took her there instead of to the ER. I was told that she hadn’t been admitted today, but if she was being Baker Acted she might still be “downstairs” in processing. I was transferred there and at 1:50PM PDT, while I was explaining why I was concerned, I received a call from (386) 425-1911 from April, the charge nurse of the ER at Halifax.

April told me that there was no record at all of my mother being there since she was discharged on July 6, 2012, and that if my mother was anywhere in the hospital right then (or at the Port Orange location), she would see it on her computer. April was pretty adamant that my mother was not there. I thanked her and asked her to please call me if she did see my mom get admitted.

Then at 1:53PM PDT I called Woodland Terrace. Rachel answered the phone and sounded sincerely concerned when I explained that I was looking for my mother. She told me she would check with Sherri and asked me to hold on. I waited on hold for six minutes and then Rachel returned to tell me that Sherri told her to tell me that someone would call me right back.

I asked Rachel if she knew if Nurse Amy could have sent mom to the wrong place, and she said that Nurse Amy was gone for the day — “She’s a seven to three nurse.” — and that she would walk over to Sherri’s desk right now to hand her my phone number. (She was being incredibly nice.) I told her that wasn’t necessary because Sherri definitely has my phone number.

Update: At 2:19PM PDT I received a call from Susan, the Director of Nursing at Woodland Terrace. Susan told me that, “Halifax is in diversion right now.” I said, “Wait, wait. I don’t know what in diversion means.”

Susan said it meant that the ER was full, that they had no beds, that people were waiting three and four hours to see a doctor and were lined up in the hallways, so the non-emergency transport with my mom was turned away and she “ended up” in Orange City at Florida Hospital.

She said that a physician there said that mom is okay and wants to return her to Woodland Terrace, so she wanted to know if that was okay with me. She said she wanted to know if I wanted mom returned to Woodland Terrace or sent straight to Halifax.

I said that if there are people waiting on stretchers in hallways for three hours, it doesn’t sound like it would make much sense to send her back to Halifax, and Susan said, “Right.” She said that she “just want[s] to do right by” mom, and if there are any problems or mom gets worse at all during the night, she will definitely send her to an emergency care facility.

I asked Susan if she knew the name of the doctor at Florida Hospital who had said that mom was okay, and she said she hadn’t talked to the physician but had only talked to the charge nurse there, Heather, who she overheard talking to the physician, who said that mom was stable enough to return to Woodland Terrace.

Susan told me that Dawn was the night nurse and she would call me as soon as mom was back at Woodland Terrace.

Calling Halifax

July 26th, 2012 @ 12:30 pm

I called the Emergency Services phone number (386) 238-2285 listed on the web page for the Halifax Hospital ER and talked to Nikki, a Physicians Services Coordinator.

I explained to Nikki that my mom was on her way there — or may already be there — from Woodland Terrace, and gave her a quick synopsis of her history. She told me that she would contact the charge nurse for the ER and someone would contact me as soon as they know where mom is and what her status is.

Back to Halifax

July 26th, 2012 @ 9:15 am

I just got a phone call from Woodland Terrace. A woman named Amy said that she was calling from Woodland Terrace and that she wanted to know to which hospital I wanted them to send my mother for “altered mental status”. I said, basically, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who is this? What are you talking about?”

She said that she was mom’s nurse, and that Dr. Peele “looked at her today” and he “wants her to be evaluated”. She asked if I wanted mom to be sent to Halifax or Fish Hospital.

I said, “What are you talking about? She was already at Halifax from May 16th until two weeks ago, when she was transferred to you there. They discharged her because they said that physically she was fine and she needs psychological help and therapy. And they promised me that you would provide that there.”

To which Nurse Amy replied, “So you want her to go to Halifax then?”

I said, “No. What are you talking about? Did you not hear anything I just said?”

And Amy replied, “So you want her to go to Halifax then?”

I said, “Yes, if you have to send her to a hospital, it should be Halifax.”

Amy asked if I wanted to talk to my uncle, who was there. I said that, no, actually I was very upset and I wanted to talk to Shelly.

Amy transferred me to Shelly, who was very confused, because I should have asked to speak to Sherri, the administrator, and not Shelly, the social worker. I explained to Shelly what was happening and she said she would transfer me to Sherri.

After a minute Sherri answered and I explained everything to her. (She was completely ambivalent about how rude I thought Amy had been.) Sherri said that she’s not a doctor or a nurse, so she can’t make any decisions about what a doctor or nurse tells her. She said that if the physician feels “that way”, then there is nothing she can do. She said that if I wanted mom discharged from Halifax to a psychological care facility that specializes in that sort of thing, I need to make that clear to Halifax.

I tried to explain to her that Halifax had told me that Woodland Terrace was able to provide those services, and that apparently nobody anywhere cares.

Sherri asked if there was any way I could move mom to Los Angeles, because I am her only advocate and it’s just too hard to expect anything to get better while I try to manage things from the other side of the country. I said that I thought it was a shame that nobody in the healthcare system in Florida cares enough to do their job well without needing my constant physical presence to force them. Sherri insisted that lots of people in Florida care.

I said, “I guess send her back to Halifax,” and while I was asking, “Will you let me know what happens next?” she said, “Okay. Thank you. Bye,” and hung up on me.

I immediately called Dr. Peele at (407) 929-5611 and left a message asking him to please call me back as soon as he can.

Then at 9:33 AM PDT I called Woodland Terrace again. The phone rang more than a dozen times and then Sylvia Gray answered. She explained that she only answered the phone because she thought it was a call for her; nobody had answered at the front desk. I told her what was happening and said I wanted to know what was going to happen next. Sylvia asked me to hold on.

Half a minute later Susan answered the phone. She said that they were waiting on non-emergency transport now, and asked if I’d like Amy to call me when they arrived to pick up mom. I said I would and asked what they were going to do with her at Halifax. “Are they just going to dump her off at the ER?” Susan said that was exactly what they would do, and that when there are “significant changes” in a patient from day to day, they will usually send them to the hospital.

I told Susan that I call every day, usually twice each day, and this was the first time I had heard of any “significant changes” in mom. She said that she doesn’t spend much time “on the floor” and she can “only go by what the nurses tell me”. She said that mom seems more anxious today, and was grabbing and pulling chairs and people.

Susan said, “We can’t treat the symptoms. That doesn’t do any good. We need to figure out the problem and treat that.”

At this point I mentioned again that I had been told my mother needed intense psychological counseling, therapy, and that she would be provided that at Woodland Terrace, and she hadn’t been. Susan had no response. I asked if we had spoken at some point in the past, and she said that, yes, she was Susan the Director of Nursing.

I asked her if my uncle was still there, and she said, “No, he’s already left.” I thanked her and hung up.

I sent a text message to my sister at 9:43 AM PDT, saying:

Woodland Terrace is sending her back to Halifax today.

Then at 9:44 AM PDT I called Woodland Terrace again. Rachel answered and clearly sounded thrilled when I said my name. I told Rachel they were sending my mom to Halifax and asked to talk to Nurse Amy or whoever is in charge of that. She told me to hold on and said she’d “page her overhead”.

Nurse Amy answered the line and I asked her what was going to happen to mom’s stuff, her clothes and the photographs, etc. She said that they would pack it all up and someone would need to come get it. I asked her if she could send it with mom to Halifax and she said she didn’t know and would need to ask her director. I asked her if mom had her eyeglasses and she said that she did and she was wearing them right now. Nurse Amy said she’d call me when they came to pick up mom.

At 9:58 AM PDT I got a call from Nurse Amy, who said that the transportation was there to pick mom up and take her to Halifax. She said that they didn’t want her belongings, so they would just pack them up and someone would have to go pick them up from Woodland Terrace. Nurse Amy confirmed that mom was wearing her eyeglasses when she left the facility.

ChamberlinEdmonds Calls My Sister

July 26th, 2012 @ 8:14 am

My sister just sent me this text message:

I just received a phone call from Debbie Meadows ¹ with ChamberlinEdmonds ². She said she was calling to follow up on Mom’s Disability claim and Medicaid application. She asked for Nana’s maiden name ³ and said she would call me back to let me know the status of each.

¹ I have no idea who this is. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of this person.
² I am still not clear what exactly this company does or how they’re involved in any of this. I’ve visited their website and they appear to be a private company that works with hospitals to recover money from patients that don’t pay. I suppose they may have some vested interest in helping people obtain Medicaid, but it really seems to me like something a government agency should be doing.
³ For the life of me I can’t imagine why anyone working on my mother’s Medicaid application would be interested in my grandmother’s maiden name.

Shelly Calls Me

July 25th, 2012 @ 12:48 pm

Shelly Sparace from Woodland Terrace called me this afternoon to ask me to fax (or scan and email) my paperwork to prove that I have Power of Attorney for mom.

I explained to Shelly that I do not have PoA for mom, because by the time my sister and I were certain we should get it, we were told she would not have been legally competent to grant it.

Shelly and I discussed, however, that — according to the many notices and statements and Florida and federal “patients’ rights” documents I’ve been given over the last eight months — it is absolutely, unquestionably my right and responsibility to be the one to make any decisions about mom’s health care. In the absence of parents, “the law” appears to be quite clear that the eldest child is the one deemed to be responsible. That’s me.

Shelly agreed with my interpretation of the situation and promised to keep me informed of any new developments with mom.

Shelly Calls My Sister

July 25th, 2012 @ 12:21 pm

My sister sent me a text message to let me know she’d just received a phone call from Shelly Sparace at Woodland Terrace:

Shelly just called. She said she and Sylvia looked at the website. From what she can tell, none of the items with "Denied" next to them are ones we are currently working on.
I left a message asking Sylvia to call and let me know about any current payments I should be making or if we could start paying for Mom to get some therapy.

Medicaid Update

July 24th, 2012 @ 4:46 pm

My sister just sent me this email:

Hi, David.

I logged into the MyAccess Florida site to see if anything had changed.  In some areas it says that Mom's account is "Processing".  In another it says "Denied" next to everything.  Then if you click further, it says that "We did not receive all the information needed to determine eligibility".  I will try to get a hold of Shelly tomorrow to find out what this means, if she faxed those forms in, and what the next steps look like.  

Love you.