Complaint Review: Westwind Campus of Care - Pueblo California

We just realized after a month of being out of Westwind Campus of Care that they had returned to Social Security and taken my 86 year old mothers ssi again. Mom had gone to social security when she learned that the nursing home had made themselves Rep Payee without her permission. Social Work Erika Salazar said it is common practice with nursing homes to get a doctor to write up a letter saying that patients cannot handle their money so the nursing home can insure payment when a patient says they would like their insurance to pay and affter that is exhausted the will leave to go home with a nurse.

But after 2 trips to billing saying mom is refusing to turn over her ssi, Erika, Connie and Yvonne forced her to sign a form allowing them to make themselves rep payee. Mom said I am leaving, so after getting her a place, I told them she was leaving. Erika said she cannot leave! WHAT! She has to stay. I told mom she had to make it clear, she came to Erikas office and told her she was leaving. Erika started confronting her with "dont you like it her, tonight is bingo dont you want to play, and she treatened me with Adult Protective Services for forcing mom to leave in front of mom if I tried to take her out.

I told Erika she was leaving May 30. Came to Erikas office Monday June 2 and she said she refused to let her leave, she was speaking for mom and mom was staying even if she says she wants to leave. Mom was furious, I started yelling then the administrator Connie came. She said calm down. Mom said GET ME OUT of Here. Erika said she needed 10 days to fill out a medicaid form (LIES). Mom agreed to stay that night while I secured the house she was moving into, with the understanding she was leaving June 3 after she got her SSI check.

But the nursing home took that check. Held it in her FACE and told her they were keeping it whether she left or stayed, so she might as well stay since she would be leaving pennyless. Mom was furious, said it was her check to do with what she wanted. They said it was theres and all nursing homes in Colorado make the elderly sign a form to let nursing homes be rep payee - whether or not the patients have dementia or alzheimers.

Main complaints:

Physical Therapy stopped within weeks of her admission, wounds were infected for weeks before she left the facility yet they were billing her saying she had no medical reason for care, she lost hearing when they mishandled drops in her ears causing 2 weeks with total hearing loss, it took 3 weeks to evaluate her electric wheelchair upon admission causing her a great loss of quality of life, argumentative social worker that went against patient / patient family rights to make money for the home, billing outright refusal to follow patient rights and used fraudulant methods to insure payments, run more like a prison than a nursing home - patients are financially drained (private pay is thousands more than insured patients admitted by both Connie and Erika), patients complain of having anything of value taken by billing to pay for their care - often family heirlooms ( mom witnessed this a few times).

Financial extorsion, incoming patients forced to sign against their will making nursing home rep payee or risk being diagnosed mentally unable to handle their money to be forced to pay for substandard care. Even a month after leaving still unable to afford food and rent because nursing home returned to social security a week after they left to make themselves rep payee to insure the elderly that left live in fear, poverty and identy theft from Westwind Campus of Care.