BY LINDSAY VANHULLE
lvanhulle@record-eagle.com
April 17, 2009 10:15 pm TRAVERSE CITY -- Her father was admitted to Munson Medical Center late on April 7, but Louise Muma didn't find out until the next day. That, she said, was her first concern. Muma's worries escalated as soon as she arrived at the hospital: Her father had "extreme" pressure ulcers, known as bedsores, that stretched across his pelvic area. Her father, Donald Taylor, was a resident at Tendercare Health Center-Birchwood nursing home, 2950 LaFranier Road in Traverse City, when he was admitted to Munson. Muma, of Mancelona, wants to know how he ended up in that condition. "I have watched my father suffer and it just breaks your heart," said Muma, whose father just turned 86. "I was not going to stick my head in the sand and ignore this." The Record-Eagle reported in March that Birchwood was investigated by state nursing home regulators and fined a total of almost $38,000 in 2007 and 2008 for a series of violations, including patient assaults, falls and bedsores. State inspectors also discovered reports of physical and sexual assault among residents going back as far as 2006. A department report indicated that Birchwood staff failed to report the incidents to the state, or protect the residents in their care. A state attorney general spokesman said a criminal investigation continues. Muma said her father no longer resides at Birchwood. Muma said she called Birchwood on April 8, and was told by a staff member that Taylor was asleep. Muma didn't know he had been taken to the hospital the night before, she said, until her father's wife called with the news. When she called again, this time speaking to another staff member, Muma said she asked about her father's condition and care, "at which time she was totally silent on the other end of the phone." Kim Kloeckner, Birchwood's administrator, would not comment on Taylor's condition or Muma's conversations with Birchwood employees. She issued a written statement, which said in part that staff members are trained in skin treatment procedures but send residents to hospitals if their conditions require additional care. Staff at Extendicare Health Services Inc. of Milwaukee, which owns Birchwood, also would not comment. Taylor is under the guardianship of Legal Services of Northern Michigan. State law requires that guardians meet with their clients at least once every three months. Director Kenneth Penokie, based in Escanaba, said his employees visit every other month. He would not specifically discuss Taylor's case, citing privacy laws. "We're not caregivers, we're decision-makers," Penokie said, adding that every case is discussed with nursing staff and physicians. "We're fully familiar with the patient's medical condition." Muma said Munson nursing officials told her and other family members that the hospital filed a complaint with state nursing home regulators. "It was even more clear when I personally went to address it and was told it had already been filed," she said. Hospital spokeswoman Barb Gordon-Kessel would neither confirm nor deny that Munson employees filed a complaint against Birchwood. She said only that Taylor was admitted April 7 and released April 13. James McCurtis, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health, would not disclose whether a complaint had been filed, saying only past filings can be discussed. "If there's a case that's pending against them, then that will tip off that particular facility in terms of when we would do a surprise visit or investigation," he said.
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