9 replies to this topic

[AuntBird]

So my niece has been at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia for about a month now. So far I am not at all impressed with the care they have been giving her. Unless your vent alarm is going off they take their sweet ole time getting to you. Her roomate needed her trache to be suction and for her to be coughed. KAyla goes through the same stuff and when this doesn't happen in a timely matter she feels like she is choking. Well, her roommate called for her nurse twice within a ten minute period to be suctioned and no one came. I ended up going to get someone. Kayla told me that it happens to her all the time. She calls for someone (mind you, neither Kayla nor Regina can speak) and no one comes. OF course I'm upset because I heard such good htings aobut this place and things are happening that are making me very angry. Like one morning they forgot to feed Kay breakfast and another time she was getting some medince and it was administered very fast and Kayla's eyes rolled into the back of her head and a team came in and had to bring her back.

So through all these complaints and concerns I am wondering if anyone on here has been to the Rehabilitation Institue of Chicago? They are the number one rehab center in the country and I think it is worth a shot for Kayla to go there next. Do you think it would be best for her to go straight there from the Shepherd Center or should she go be at home for a bit first?

Kayla's situation is a little tricky... well, very tricky because the woman responsible for Kayla's injuries is her neighbor and is now facing criminal charges.

Wowzas! This is long!

I appreciate any input! Thanks!

Kirsty

[T0P]

I live in Illinois but am not familiar with the SCI Unit in Chicago.
I went through the Shepherd Center for my initial SCI care (2003). I experienced some of the same things. I had a trache, felt like I was drowning all the time, had to have suction constantly. In my case they had a monitor on me all the time and there was a nurse monitoring it. I do remember there were times that it took forever for them to respond to the call light. Not a pleasant experience.
Keep in mind, they will not always give suction because it can cause damage if done too frequent, I know there were many times they would not give me suction and wanted me to work through it.

Overall I thought the care at the Shepherd Center was one of the better ones available.
If your niece is having problems the Shepherd Center is very good about listening to your complaints and tending to your needs. Your niece can change teams if it is a team issue.

In my experience with SCI units, unless extreme emergency, the response time from call light to attendance is not immediate. Most are short staffed and very busy. SCI care is pretty demanding for the staff and not easy care.

[StellaLAtella]

AuntBird, on Jul 23 2009, 02:30 PM, said:

So my niece has been at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia for about a month now. So far I am not at all impressed with the care they have been giving her. Unless your vent alarm is going off they take their sweet ole time getting to you. Her roomate needed her trache to be suction and for her to be coughed. KAyla goes through the same stuff and when this doesn't happen in a timely matter she feels like she is choking. Well, her roommate called for her nurse twice within a ten minute period to be suctioned and no one came. I ended up going to get someone. Kayla told me that it happens to her all the time. She calls for someone (mind you, neither Kayla nor Regina can speak) and no one comes. OF course I'm upset because I heard such good htings aobut this place and things are happening that are making me very angry. Like one morning they forgot to feed Kay breakfast and another time she was getting some medince and it was administered very fast and Kayla's eyes rolled into the back of her head and a team came in and had to bring her back.

So through all these complaints and concerns I am wondering if anyone on here has been to the Rehabilitation Institue of Chicago? They are the number one rehab center in the country and I think it is worth a shot for Kayla to go there next. Do you think it would be best for her to go straight there from the Shepherd Center or should she go be at home for a bit first?

Kayla's situation is a little tricky... well, very tricky because the woman responsible for Kayla's injuries is her neighbor and is now facing criminal charges.

Wowzas! This is long!

I appreciate any input! Thanks!

Kirsty

Perhaps you should contact the Shepherd Center's Risk Manager. Or, the floor supervisor. But I do agree with TOP (Most are short staffed and very busy. SCI care is pretty demanding for the staff and not easy care)

Hang in there & best wishes for your niece's speedy recovery!
Stella

[AuntBird]

Thanks guys for your replies. We have contacted the Charge Nurse multiple times with our concerns, but little to no has been done. Some people are great wiht Kay and others are not. I understand it is a demanding job, but this is all part of the job. Kayla's vent is connected to an alert system. I guess it is jsut so hard for me to see her in need and me being inexperienced am unable to help her with all of this. It is jsut frustrating when we call for someone and they showe up thirty minutes later. Kayla is havingg a swallow test done today so lets hope it is successful!

[Tom1946]

I'm paraplegic and just leaving my 3rd rehab facility in Atlanta area. My only advice is after checking out any facility and taking the tour with a staff member is to talk with patients there. In one facility I was tied down in bed, no facility was ever timely with meds, all were slow to respond to call lights, institutional food was awful ( I've lost 30lbs. I'm 6' tall and weigh 146 lbs). Anyway talk to patients. If in Atlanta visit Warm Springs Rehab. President Rosevelt went there. It's about an hour south of Atlanta. Best of luck.

[rmorgan]

My husband went to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for his rehab. Was there for 3 months. He had an incredible experience, though that was in the mid 90's. We know many, many people who work there still, and people who have been there for rehab. My brother in law has a friend in Shepherd right now and family has nothing but great things to say about it. Not sure why you guys are having such a hard time, but keep in mind, they know what they are doing up there and have very rigorous schedules.

We live about an hour south of Atlanta, and my husband actually does volunteer work for Warm Springs. They are great folks there, but definitely do not recommend them over Shepherd, they just don't have the space or staff.

There will be complaints no matter where you go, it's hard to not expect 100% perfect care, but that's just how things are. But I do know you are in great hands at Shepherd.


And President Roosevelt did not "go" to Warms Springs, he created the facility after spending time in the area, and enjoying the natural warms springs that helped with his polio.

Edited by rmorgan, 05 August 2011 - 10:54 PM.

[mellowgator]

sheppard is one of the best rehab hospital's in the country. it will only be worse if you go elsewhere. i'd talk to the dr. if you're unhappy with the staff. there are many nightmare stories on here from people who were in a rehab that didn't have a clue how to handle sci. there are tons of stories about the newly injured ending up with horrible bed sores that take years to heal.

perhaps you should learn how to suction your daughter so when you're there she'll get relief much quicker. the rehab i was in taught my husband how to do all my care. i remember waiting on the nurse when i needed suctioning and every minute felt like an hour. unfortunaly our hospitals everywhere are understaffed.


mellowgator

Edited by mellowgator, 05 August 2011 - 11:12 PM.

[goose]

I went to Shepherd too and think very highly of the center. I know you must get really alarmed at seeing her struggle. It can be very scary especially being so new to sci. I'm not there physically so I can't very well take sides. I do know in my experience there they had my best interest at hand. They knew more of what I needed than I did. I give them credit for being tough on me which has resulted in never having a skin pressure issue.

I can't tell you how many doctors I've been to who really didn't have a clue about sci. Most rehab centers take in all kinds of injuries whereas Shepherd is specialized in SPINAL CORD INJURIES. Talk with your patient advocacy if you need to but just remember they[nurses] can't always be in her room. Either have all the family learn how to do these things or hire someone who would always be in her room. I just reread your data and it stated you joined in 09 so this tells me this isn't a new injury. The family should already know how to handle these problems.

This sounds like we are taking sides but I really feel you'd be much worse somewhere else. SCI is tricky and most places just aren't trained well enough to care for us.
I didn't receive royal treatment there but as I look back it was pretty darn good. Yes, I did have some small issues at the time I thought were major but they really weren't. SCI is all about learning patience. Boy, will you need tons of it!!!

Edited by goose, 06 August 2011 - 06:20 AM.

[goose]

Yall we have been answering an 'OLD' thread...from July 09.

[airart1]

VA beat any rehab center i ever went to, sure beat nashvilles all to heck and stallworth is suppose to be a good one, the problem is flat out under staffed, wait for obamacare and they half whats there now............