On Friday afternoon I received a call-back from a supervisor at the managed long term care to whom I had left a message. It seemed like weeks had gone by and I had given up hearing from her. In the meantime, I had contacted my assemblyman and a case worker for MYSELF. I was hoping for help and guidance but after chatting with someone in person  about my mother’s situation, and managed care, I realized I knew more than the case worker did.

Getting back to the supervisor, she had changed my mother’s case management team as requested. I was happy that she was a good listener and the plan was that she send a nurse over to re-evaluate my mother’s status. Whenever there is a monthly assessment by phone, the questions are always: “have there been any falls or hospitalizations?

The answer is always, “No.”

And then this happened.

My mother called me on Sunday to tell me she had fallen and that an ambulance was coming to take her to a nearby hospital.

But there is more.

My mother resides in a senior building, not assisted living, though she has aides part time. There is a block of time when she is alone: she was unattended at the time, standing near the bathroom which is near the main door which she keeps unlocked; her food (if you can call it that) is delivered on a tray as she no longer eats in the dining room. The delivery guy didn’t knock and flung the door open hitting my mother, who was knocked to the floor, stunned.

The delivery guy left her, promising to get help and to return to see what was going on: HE NEVER DID.
My mother managed to get to a phone and called the front desk; she was too shocked to realize she was wearing a call button around her neck.

She was taken to the hospital by ambulance. All tests were good, thankfully, blood pressure was up and kind of unmanageable–it happens.

While in the ER she told everyone her life story, how she met my father, how they used to dance — do the boogie woogie. She gave advice to the lovelorn technicians who administered the C-T and x-rays, held hands with the nurses, both male and female, and invited them over for tea and social tea biscuits. They all wanted to take her home. However, she was admitted into the hospital.