Autumn Leaves of Austin (Georgetown)

I worked at Autumn Leaves since they opened in 2016. I can reassure everyone that is looking for a place for their loved one that they will be in good hands with Clare Hollice being the Director. I quit Autumn Leaves in 2017 because the new Director Stephanie Morton was the worst director I have ever worked for and thankfully she resigned.

My mother had been a resident at Autumn Leaves of Georgetown for almost three years, since August of 2016. In the early days of her stay there it was very nice. The rooms were kept clean and my mother was kept clean, dry, and comfortable for the most part. We had a few problems but as we made report of those problems the Executive Director and the Director of Healthcare were very compassionate and understanding. In each case where we felt that my mother was being neglected or mistreated we were given apologies and assurance that it would not happen again and for the following two years it didn't happen again. Unfortunately, over the last several months that hasn't been the case. The Georgetown Autumn Leaves facility is no longer able to maintain staff. From their healthcare team and caregivers, to their other staff, it's become a revolving door with almost complete staff turnover every few months. They have been without a nurse, or Director of Healthcare, since their last Director of Healthcare resigned in February and the care went downhill fast. We were so concerned about a situation of severe neglect, which endangered my mother's health, and was not addressed or corrected, and we were forced to do an emergency move out and move her into another facility. That is an extremely difficult thing to do with a person suffering from advanced dementia and loss of mobility. They promise to have nurses and well trained staff to take good care of your loved ones and this is what happened to my mother: she had been ill with something that almost took her away from us and left her unresponsive (unconscious) and unable to breath and blue except with constant oxygen which lasted for almost three days, from April 9th through April 11th. On April 10 I advised my brother, who resides out of state, that his family needed to come down because we didn't think she would make it trough the night. During this time, even though my mother had been there for almost three years, not a single person other than one caregiver, offered any well wishes for my mother or showed us or my mother any compassion or sympathy. Luckily my mother did pull through and she came around on April 12. She was able to get out of bed again but with her hospice nurse's instructions: that she should be put into bed anytime she started turning blue or slumping over in her wheelchair; that the head of her bed needed to be raised to help her breath easier at all times when she was in bed; that they should administer a dose of medication to calm her if she became agitated because during that illness she developed a rash and was getting very hot and itchy to the point that she was scratching bad enough to break her skin and draw blood; that she have her oxygen on at all time when she was in bed; and that her hospice should be called if there were any issues or they needed help with her. On April 14 at 12:15 we we nt to check on her and found her in her room being punished for being agitated and difficult. She was obviously hot and uncomfortable, and had become agitated. We were told that she kept kicking off her sheets and pulling at her clothing and rather than give her something to help her or calling the hospice for help, as they promised they would, they chose to strip her and her bed and just leave her alone and terrified to fend for herself without her oxygen or the bed raised even though she is helpless and completely at their mercy. She is not able to defend herself, or help herself, at all and is completely at their mercy. I write that because after my husband, and I, discovered her in that condition and demanded to know why they were treating my mother like an animal we were told that she had become very agitated and that they had done their best. 12:00 is mealtime so all the staff was in the dining room with the other residents and it took almost 15 minutes, and a sec ond plea for help, before anyone showed up to help my mother. We reported the incident to the person in charge that day and assumed that they would take it seriously and follow up with us the following work day when management was on site. The following day no one did follow up so I called to speak with the person that they've been presenting as the person in charge of care. When I inquired about the situation and if anything had been done about it I was told, by the Executive Director who was listening in on the call, that she had a 'different view' of the situation and that she had been given supporting statements, by three people who were not even present during the situation, attesting to my mothers severe agitation and the staff having done their best. I told her that it was not acceptable for my mother to be treated that way and that I could no longer trust them to take care of her so I would be there immediately to move her out and she told me she was sorry that I FELT that way. She did not offer any apology for my mother being mistreated or jeopardized. She did not offer any assu