My grandma had her hip replaced a few weeks ago and has been recovering/receiving physical therapy at a place called Northern Manor.
What an awful place.
It’s basically a nursing home that also has some physical therapy on the premises. I say “some” because my grandma hasn’t really been receiving the physical therapy she needs. She told me she met another patient the other day who is also there for hip replacement “treatment.” The woman has been there since May.
On top of that, the staff at Northern Manor don’t take care of her well at all. They’ve made mistakes with her medication. They only bathe her once a week. If she needs help going to the bathroom, she’s often left waiting for hours before anyone shows up (even if she has diarrhea). And the patients who are there for physical therapy are mixed in with all of the other patients who are there with severe mental illness. My grandma said that she keeps her door closed at night because there are patients who wander the halls screaming. Every night. All night. She’s terrified.
Let me repeat, my grandma is there for PHYSICAL THERAPY, and is only there because she had to switch insurance companies due to cost (her new insurance wouldn’t cover the cost for her to stay at Helen Hayes Hospital, where she usually goes to recover from surgeries). She’s not at Northern Manor for long-term care, she’s not there because she’s too frail to independently care for herself or because she’s ‘losing her marbles.’ And yet she’s seeing first-hand what too many of our senior citizens experience when they have no one else.
Unfortunately the nursing home stereotype is true at Northern Manor. When I last spoke with my grandma, she was so upset and scared about the entire situation. I tried to cheer her up by reminding her that she’s only there temporarily, that she’s going to have some very interesting stories to tell after this experience, and that I love her.
My family is trying to get my grandma out of there as soon as possible.
Steph Grossman 