Kathie Gagne died 4,642 days ago.

Insanity
January 12th, 2012 @ 12:30 pm

I called the rec room number at Stewart-Marchman in an attempt to talk to mom. A crazed man answered the phone and started immediately ranting about how he was being held against his will “in this shithole.”

I hung up and called the number for the nurses station. A man with a very heavy Eastern European accent answered the phone and said his name was Leo. He could barely speak English and said that he was unable to help much. When I asked if I could talk to my mom, he told me that she didn’t want to talk to me and hung up.

Dropped Card
January 12th, 2012 @ 12:00 pm

Sophia Mas from Stewart-Marchman called to tell me that mom had received another card from me in the mail.

I asked Sophia if she liked it, and she told me that it was hard to tell because she didn’t seem to be aware of anything, and that when she tried to get her to read the card, it simply dropped from her hands to the floor.

The good news (!) is that Sophia confirmed that they are now “flushing her system” and she is no longer being administered any anti-psychotic drugs, including Risperdal.

Here are my notes from the call:

1200
Sophia Mas called me; she said that mom simply dropped the recent card I sent when Sophia placed it in her hand; repeatedly said mom was very lethargic; obvious to me – mom stoned out of her mind all the time
Sophia said she was able to convince Dr. Caliendo to stop administering the anti-psychotic drugs, and that starting today (01/12/12) they were beginning to wean her off of (at least?) the Risperdal

Mom’s Finances
January 12th, 2012 @ 10:54 am
 
 
 
 
Hampton Manor
January 12th, 2012 @ 10:00 am

I called Judy Martin at Hampton Manor this morning. She said that she was “doing outreach” this week and that she would go visit mom.

She said that they don’t have any “memory care beds” available right now, but that changes frequently.

Southland Suites
January 11th, 2012 @ 2:59 pm

I received the following voice mail this afternoon:

“Hi, David. This is Katherine Dray calling from Southland Suites here in Ormond Beach; we’re an assisted living community. You actually had gone on to the Brookdale web, which is our parent company, in search for information, about … there’s some communities that we do have. Again Southland Suites is a [unintelligible] community located in Ormond Beach. So I’m just trying to reach out to see if I can assist you. My number is (386) [redacted] again [redacted] area code 386 sorry about that, and you certainly can also catch me on … at the office, which is (386) 677-0782 again (386) 677-0782. Thank you, David and I look forward to speaking with you. Thanks. Buh-bye.”

Clare Bridge
January 11th, 2012 @ 1:00 pm

Clare Bridge of Ormond BeachOn January 11th of 2012, I had a very long phone call with Vanessa Merse, the Sales and Marketing Manager at Clare Bridge of Ormond Beach. It was just one of many nursing homes and assisted living facilities we contacted after we realized that mom would probably not be able to live by herself. Ms. Merse was incredibly kind and helpful; her facility was simply much too expensive for us to consider it. She was very sympathetic and promised me that she would send me a list of more affordable places in the area that she trusted.

Ms. Merse was one of the very, very, very few people who actually followed through on a promise to me during the entire experience of trying to help mom. I’ve logged dozens — if not hundreds — of instances on this website of people telling me something was going to happen, or that I would hear more by some date, or that they would return my call by a certain time and almost universally I was disappointed.

Just after lunch I received the email (below) from her. I replied to her a few hours later to thank her. We never spoke again. But I felt like it was important to document this exchange to highlight how important it is to simply keep your word.

 

Dear David,

It was a pleasure speaking with you earlier about your Mom and her current situation. I’m sorry to hear of all the setbacks and miscommunications you’ve have been faced with while trying to manage your Moms care. As discussed earlier I have attached a list of skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and “The Cares” program information. A great place to start would be with Judy Martin of Hampton Manor, she is very well versed in the Medicaid waiver programs and her assisted living facility works with them or The Cares program. If I can be of any further assistance please feel free to contact me. Have a great day!

Skilled Nursing Homes:
Coquina Center
170 N Center Street Ormond Beach (5 mins outside of Daytona)
386-672-7113
Kristi Sommers

Carlton Shores
1350 S. Nova Road
Daytona Beach
386-258-5544
Allison Chasse

Health Center of Daytona Beach
550 National Health Care Dr.
Daytona Beach
386-257-6362
Corrine

Terrace of Daytona Beach
1704 Huntington Village Circle
Daytona Beach
386-255-6571
Debbie

Assisted Living Facilites:
Hampton Manor
1050 Ocean Shore Blvd.
Ormond Beach
386-441-1771
**Judy Martin

The Seasons
515 Tomoka Ave
Ormond Beach
386-671-2616

Grand Villa
535 N. Nova Rd
Ormond Beach
386-673-5000
Amy Bordeley

****The Cares (Division of Elder Source, they assist with Medicaid waiver, ALF, ect.)
386-238-4946

Vanessa Merse, LPN
Sales and Marketing Manager
Clare Bridge of Ormond Beach
240 Interchange Blvd.
Ormond Beach FL. 32174
(386) 672-8800
(386) 589-9296 cell
vmerse@brookdaleliving.com
Community #04480

—————————————– This email may contain confidential protected health information and/or attorney privileged information. If received in error, see our Privacy Statement at http://www.brookdaleliving.com/privacy-policy.aspx

 
HIPAA Regulations
January 11th, 2012 @ 11:17 am

After a very frustrating phone call with Rodney Curtis at Stewart-Marchman, I sent the following email 1 to him and to Sophia Mas:

Dear Rodney and Sophia,

Please understand that I work in the technology industry, and for many years I worked specifically in the field of medical technology, including health insurance subrogation and claims processing.

When Rodney told me earlier this morning that he was not able to communicate anything regarding my mother using email and, in fact, that he and others at Stewart Marchman ACT had been recently reprimanded for doing so, I was very concerned.

This is very, very wrong.

You need to make it absolutely clear to the person that scolded you that there is nothing at all improper related to using email to discuss patient health care. (Email is almost always the most efficient way to communicate. It allows you to be very detailed and include exact information which may not be easily conveyed — or which may be misunderstood — on a telephone call.)

Because I wanted to be sure, I confirmed this by visiting the federal Department of Health and Human Services HIPAA website. There is a tremendous amount of very clear and specific information on this page, for example:

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/coveredentities/cefastfacts.html

The most important part is this statement: “THE PRIVACY RULE IS NOT ANTI-ELECTRONIC. YOU CAN COMMUNICATE WITH PATIENTS, PROVIDERS, AND OTHERS BY E-MAIL, TELEPHONE, OR FACSIMILE …”

Again: This is very, very important. Simply telling everyone not to use email is a horrible interpretation of HIPAA regulations. It is completely incorrect, it is irresponsible, and it is inefficient.

If you would like my support to help convince your superiors of this, please do not hesitate to contact me. The federal government provides a wealth of information on its official website explaining the correct implementation of HIPAA rules, and I am more than happy to share these with you.

1 rcurtis@smabehavioral.org, smas@smabehavioral.org

Research
January 11th, 2012 @ 11:00 am

I spent about five minutes online researching HIPAA regulations to confirm that there’s nothing wrong with communicating with anyone at Stewart-Marchman ACT via email about mom.

Then I sent a very detailed email to Rodney and Sophia explaining how HIPAA works.

A Response from Sophia Mas
January 11th, 2012 @ 10:44 am

Sophia Mas at Stewart-Marchman sent me this email:

David,

In response to our phone conversation here is the information:

1. Elder Helpline ph#s 888-242-4464 or 904-777-2106 [open7:30am to 6:30pm./ Eastern standard time]
Your mother was accepted into the Waiver Program “waiting list” in early Dec.
Questions to ask:
· Where is KG on the waiting list?
· How can we speed up the process?
· Any other question you may have…

Call The CARES Program ph# 904-238-4946 – they are the ones who screen for preadmission to nursing facility and or alternative placement like an assisted living facility through the Waiver Program
· Have they received the referral from Elder Affairs and if they have where is she in the waiting list?
· If they don’t have her ask what you need to do to get her in there?

Call Council on Aging ph# 904- 253-4700 [HOO 8am to 4pm EST ] leave message/messages – they will eventually call you]
They are the ones who provide the service or complete the request by assessing what services need to be provided for your mother:
· Type of Living Facility
· Medical Care
· Medications


I hope this helps – take care,

Sophia

Lakewood Retirement
January 11th, 2012 @ 10:35 am

I had a fourteen minute phone call with Maria from Lakewood Retirement, who finally returned one of my calls this morning.

Here are my notes from the call:

1035
Maria from Lakewood called & I conferenced [my little sister] into the call

  • said mom is not receiving “Part A” or “Part B”
  • said Sophia told her mom was on waiting list
  • said Sophia wanted Maria to come get mom

Apparently there are two separate processes: (1) Medicaid and (2) ???
during this call, Maria suddenly seemed more competent than anyone at Stewart-Marchman
Maria suggested they lower dosages of Rx because mom was so lethargic
[redacted] is Maria’s cell phone
said she needs to make sure to “cross her Ts and dot all the dots”, doesn’t apparently know what “average” means (when [my sister] asked the average age of residents at her facility, she just kept telling us the min and the max)

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