Serenity USVI

Look I do not want to argue with you.....I believe my post was misunderstood.... I am looking for assistance in whom to contact regarding the continual breaking of the law by my ex-employer.....I have friends that work there that are afraid of repercussions for filing for what is rightfully their's. If you work without a Union, and you work in a State that is considered, "AT Will," then you can be fired for no cause. Your employer can fire you for no reason. So, thus the apprehension of my friends for filing a complaint with the Labor Board....This just does not seem right. Surely there has to be somebody out there that can contact this facility and tell them or fine them for breaking the law. As we all know the Labor Board is a State Agency. If a Nursing home is in violation of the law during State inspections then that entire department whether it is pharmacy, nursing, dietary, etc....then the entire facility is penalized. I just am looking for answers as to who to contact when the entire nursing staff is expected to work without pay for overtime. Yes, individuals can complain to the Labor Board; but is there not someplace that someone can complain that this facility has been practicing these unscrupulous and unlawful practices, and the Facility would be penalized for their behavior? Just like if they were found by the State Nursing Home Inspectors to have broken the law? Any Nurse Advocate groups perhaps? Any other ideas? Congressman?

The latter part of your post is precisely why Nurses in LTC have no respect....Instead of trying to be a solution to a problem, you walk away....put your blind folds on and ignore the problem.....With your belief system you are not helping your fellow Nurses..... You should have filed a complaint with the Labor Board. By not doing so....you are allowing fellow nusres in your footsteps that took your place to be abused by that Nursing Home... When are we as Nurses going to be fighting for the bigger cause, and not fighting against each other?????

I am in need of some advice from all of you......I was terminated from a LTC Facility well over a year ago....For not having enough PTO for being sick. I lacked 2.6 hours of PTO time. I posted about this quite the while ago....Here is the question. When I was the Charge Nurse on Day-Shift I would come in anywhere from a half-hour to 45 minutes to prepare for shift report. I would punch the time clock, but I never got paid for it. In our employee hand-book there are no rules abouit punching in. So, getting up to speed here....a friend of mine who is also one of the Charge Nurse's at the place I was terminated from, filed a complaint with the Labor Board for our State....after my friend quit this place...this friend just found out from the Labor Board that this wonderful place has to pay for overtime that was not paid. I have many numerous friends that are RN's that are afraid to say something about not being paid this overtime. Since my friend contacted the Labor Board, a special addendum was handed out to all the Nurse's. This addendum states that an employee can only punch in 7 minutes prior to the start of the shift, but the RN's that are going to be the Charge Nurse were told to come in early and perform their work, but punch in after they have been there...ARGH They all will be doing their work, but off the clock, now.... The Labor Board will do nothing: only with individuals complaining, but all of my nursing friends are afraid to contact the Labor Board for fear of losing their jobs. Is there anyplace I can contact? I am owed hundreds and hundred of dollars from this LTC Facility, but the timeframe does not allow me to collect what is owed to me. Any ideas for my RN friends?

Yes, thank-you very much for your prompt response. I am aware of this site. It is very general. I am looking for more technical information, but do not know how to go about acquiring the more technical info. My question is how does one get their hands on survey results and the plan of correction that a LTC claims they have implemented. If one notes on the Medicare.gov site a facilty it will state that a plan of correction was put into place, but without any definitive plan. How does one go about getting that information? TIA

I was an "at will employee." Like I believe I stated earlier I have never ever been fired or the fancy terminolgy of todays' work world "terminated" from a job. I have had numerous jobs throughout my lifetime. It really has messed with my world. Thank-you for asking. I don't believe I am going back into nursing. As much as I loved my geriatric patient's(although there were some that were very abusive) both physically and verbally, I am going to work in a woman's clothing store. Of course the pay will be considerably less, but at least there will no longer be the fear of being sued, due to the fact there is not enough staff to take care of all of these people, and management could care less. The state survey should tell management that we need more staff. We had people that fell, and they literally died due to the complications from their fall. This was more than a one time occurrence. But, now the Facility that I was terminated from, which is supposedly non-profit just spent $600,000 on a very small parcel of land adjacent to this facility. In a recent newpaper article about this purchase it claims the money came from revenues generated by Medicaid and Medicare. Does anybody know if Government funded monies can generate revenues? Sounds fishy to me! All, I have ever done in my nursing career is LTC other than some Home-Health Care Private Duty, which I truly loved. I am too old to put up with all of the Bull, and I can not even imagine working in a hospital setting after all these years! LTC was not like how it is now when I first started working as a nurse. I actually had some time to spend with my patient's and talk to them. Now, it is only after they die and I read their obituary do I know anything about them. Truly sad! I just give up! All I know is that I do not want my elderly parent's to ever go into LTC, and hopefully by the time I am old, there has been numerous changes for the better. But, I cannot see that happening anytime soon! And, if any of you other nurses who are in management or state inspector's could you please assist me in getting my hands on the State Survey resuslts, and the facilities plan of correction. Thank-you very much!

Hell-o all you fellow long term nurses!!! How does one go about finding the state surveys and the plan of correction? Does any one know? TIA

Just an update on my situation, and I thank all of you for your kind words. But check this out: In searching the internet I came across the www.medicare.gov website that list all the LTC Facilities in the Country. It provides lots of useful info and also gives the facilities Inspection Results from the State. Well, guess what? The LTC Facility I worked for that terminated me from calling in sick was cited in March of this year. The citation reads as follows: "Stop employees, who have a disease that can spread, from having direct contact with residents or food." It is about time that the State has stepped in and says that Nurses's and food handlers should not be at work while they are contagious. This was in March of this year, and they submitted a plan of correction in April of this year, and yet I was terminated in October of this year for calling in sick. I was puking, and running a low-grade temp. So much for their plan of correction. Personally, I believe that when a person comes to work in a LTC Facility that is sick is violating the "Rights of the Resident's. It is not fair to have them subjected to infectious diseases, due to the fact that they are at increased risk of acquiring infectious diseases related to their age and their underlying medical illnesses. And many of these resident's are receiving chemotherapy, kidney dialysis, have PICC Lines, etc... I believe coming into work sick is contributing to resident's acutally dying. And than let's not even consider a MRSA patient who gets sick. What options are left for them? Not many. So, what do you all think?

Continued from above.... The fish acquariums are also contracted out. But, guess who feeds the fish? Staff, and not Management or the Administrator. And of course the Eden Alternative is supposed to have sufficient staff! What a joke it all is. The concept is wonderful, but the reality is absurd. There is not enough staff to take care of the Resident's let alone take care of all these "Eden Alternative" things. Just my two cents. Been there and done it. And by the way what I have seen happen is that staff will park end-stage alzheimer's in front of fish tanks, and bird aviaries for hours on end. Like these are suppose to be baby-sitters for these poor old people. I actually find in quite pathetic. I know longer work at this Facility as they terminated me, for probably the same reasons that I write about. To me this "Eden Alternative" is a big joke. It looks all fine and well to the general public. But, how it was implemented into the Facility that I worked for was a big joke! Just remember, it's not the building and all the fancy dancy stuff that really determines the kind of care that our elderly generation deserve!

Greetings everyone! The last LTC Facility that I was employed at used the "Eden Alternative." Personally I think it is a joke! Yeah looks all nice when families and visitors come in to visit their loved ones. But the reality of the matter is that to maintain all these birds and bird aviaries, aquariums, plants is another issue. I worked in a County Facility owned and paid for by the taxpayers. They have now went way over their budget, and now are going to ask for another millage. The taxpayers are still paying for a new building. Okay, here is how it works: First let's talk about all the plants. All these plants require care. The place I worked for hired a contractor to care for the plants. When a plant starts looking bad, in comes a new plant. We are not talking about small $3.49 plants from Wal-Mart. We are talking about huge plants. How much of this money that is being spent on plants could be used for more staff in the Facility, or new equipement, instead of broken down blood pressure cuffs. outdated Accucheck machines, broken down stethescopes and SPO2 monitors, outdated and broken IV pumps. Next, let's discuss the Facility dog. A very nice and beautiful dog. But, nobody had time to exercise the dog. The dog became very obese, and developed health problems. The dog hated the Administrator! Smart Dog!!!! The Administrator got rid of the dog. The Administrator is the one that need to go, not the dog! He He! Next is the birds and bird Aviary. It is huge. But, that is also contracted out. But, the aviary needs to be cleaned, and the birds need to be fed. Guess who does that? The Activities Department. The contractor takes the baby birds in exchange for having the aviary in the Facility, but the maintainence is left up to staff. Next is the individual birds in the resident's rooms. The resident's can't care for these birds. I was appalled to go into a resident's room to find no water, and shells from the seeds in these birds dishes. Guess who takes care of that? The Nurses and the N/A. There is a bird in a cage at the Nursing Station. There was one particular patient that loved this bird. She would have the bird on her shoulder while cruising around in her W/C. It would poop all over her, but she didn't care. Well, her son who is a total jerk(attorney) got upset and blamed the bird on her allergies. This poor old sweet lady could never be around the bird again. She was really upset, and died shortly after. She was 85+ years old.Now, the bird sits in a cage by the nursing station. Guess who cleans the cage, and feeds the bird out of their own pocket. A Nurse!

nurse-clown i do not belong to a union. thanks for your support!

Greetings All, I am curious as to how many of you work at Private LTC Facilities, and how many of you work at "For Profit Facilities?" Are Private LTC Facilities better for the resident's and employee's than "For Profit Facilities?" What are your experiences? Thank-you for any and all responses.....

Hi GingerSue, I was employed at this Facility for 3 1/2 years. I worked part-time. I had previously worked for this Facility on two different occasions. The first time as a call-in position approximately ten years ago, and than as a full-time Charge Nurse. Since than and now the upper-management has changed. It went from good to worse! And of course so hasn't the Rules and Regulations on Nursing Homes changed. I frankly am appalled at the level of care that our elderly receive. It is actually quite pathetic. And to think the Government is reimburisng these Nursing homes(LTC) for such poor quality care. Do not get me wrong in any way shape or form. All of us that work the floor, Nurses, and NA's do the best they can. There simply is not enough staff to take care of these people. I recently visited the Baltic Countries in Europe. They do not have Nursing Homes. Families care for their loved ones. I have been to Mexico, no nursing homes there. The US is in such a sorry state of affairs when it comes to respecting and caring for our elderly. Corporate greed and money is what rules the LTC industry. I worked my butt off along with all of my collegues. You get burnt out real easily. And duh!!! to management that can't understand why we get sick! WE take care of sick people for God's sake, and when you are doing your job along with part of another Nurse's job and work under extereme stress, than duh to management when we might get sick! I believe everything happens for a reason. There is definitely a reason I was terminated, and my wheels have been spinning. LTC is all I know since I have been a Nurse. Enough of my rant! Thanks for asking! And for all of you that think that you have job security, think again! Montanta is the only state in the entire Country that is not a "At will Employer!" Learned all of this after my termination!

Interested in knowing how many of you have been terminated from LTC for speaking up for your rights and the rights of your residents? I was recently terminated. I was an "at will employee." The reason given for my termination was I lacked 2.7 hours of PTO time when I called in sick, because I was up all night puking my guts out. I truly believe I was terminated because I am very outspoken when it comes to working short. I am not only concerned for my Nursing license, but for the welfare of the resident's. I made this known to the Management on numerous occasions. Do you think they would come in and help when we are short Nurse's? Absolutely not!!! And I was told so by the DON and the ADON! So, the end result. I was terminated. So, now my Nursing Colleagues are even working shorter than prior to my termination! Great Nursing Care! Has this happened to any of you? I do know that I would never have my elderly parent's ever enter this Facility. Not that we all do not try to give the best of care. But, it is an impossible task.

Could someone please explain "mandation?" Can someone be mandated in advance, like days or even a week? Can someone be mandated via a message left on an answering machine? Or does mandation only apply if you are already there? Just how does this mandation thing work? Abunch of us nurses where I work are really confused about this mandation thing. Thank-you in advance for any insight