Loretto Home For the Aged

Greatly appreciate everything the caregivers and staff have done to keep residents safe during this pandemic. Our experience with The Loretto Home was very good. I would recommend this facility.

My grandmother, recently died alone at the Loretto Home in Rutland, Vermont, despite the fact she was under Bayada Hospice care and family members had been allowed to visit two weeks prior when it was determined that she was "actively dying." During that time, we took all COVID-19 precautions. My sister [name removed] and her best friend [name removed] (who has elder care experience and the two always visited together) fed her and soothed her with their daily visits. My son sat by her bedside and listened to her reminiscing with stories of long ago. She had a very sound and clear mind, but her body was worn out after 100 years. A staff member at the Loretto Home had told my grandmother (and me) that the Loretto Home was an assisted living home and did not have the experience or time to care meet [name removed]'s level of care. She went on to say they were short-staffed, and they didn't have the time to hand-feed her or assist her with getting dressed or the other things she needed help with. This employee also said [name removed] needs took time aware from other residents. Can you imagine hearing your grandmother say this to you when she is in the greatest need of her life? It broke my heart, but she was so afraid of being moved to an unfamiliar place that she demanded that I not say anything. She said she would pay if there were a complaint and she needed so much help that she couldn’t afford to upset them. There was NO call button in her room and at this time she was unable to get up unaided to use the commode. She would sit there having to go until someone walked by (she was the last room in the hallway). This made her very uncomfortable as her bladder is 100-year-old. My sisters and I wanted to move her to a more appropriate facility, and we brought this up to [name removed] (the administrator at the Loretto Home), and others but our requests fell on deaf ears. Often, the home would bring her meals intended for someone in much better condition (i.e.: meatloaf, sandwiches, etc.; things she couldn't possibly eat). She preferred chicken soup, with bread and butter (soaked in the soup), vanilla pudding, and milkshakes. She couldn't even pick up her own water glass to take a sip. So, [name removed] and [name removed] devoted hours a day to help keep her hydrated and fed. Upon their arrival, [name removed] would often claim that she was starving! The girls would feed her, and she would eat and eat spoonful after spoonful. My sister opened her mini-refrigerator and observed it was chuck full of covered plates of food that hadn't been touched. Unfortunately, the administrator at the Loretta Home (and a staff member or two) got upset with my sister for being overly doting and somewhat emotional. They didn't appreciate that [name removed] would ask for soup or milkshakes. I think it was the administrator that found this “special request” over the top. One day when my sister came in to visit, [name removed] said she was starving and wanted her special meal. A hospice nurse heard the request and, on her way, out of the building told the staff that [name removed] wanted soup. That was at 1:00 p.m. In preparation for her lunch, [name removed] asked for her teeth that had all of the sudden "disappeared." They were always kept soaking by the sink, but they were nowhere to be found. The girls searched everywhere including [name removed] mouth and her bed. They were not in that room. She was very upset, and [name removed] tried to call the nurse's line several times, but they did not answer (it is my experience that they answer 99% of the time). My sister and [name removed] were very upset and concerned about [name removed] not being fed so [name removed] asked an aid (she saw down the hall) to help them look for the "missing" teeth. With [name removed] not being fed, and her teeth missing, the girls overstayed their 60-minute time limitation. They were told not to leave the room so they just waited for someone to come down. It was said later on that [name removed] teeth were found in her bed. Her teeth had to be removed by staff as she could no longer take them out as the fit was quite tight. Why would the staff put them in her bed? It is my firm belief that this was set up by the administrator [name removed] , to give her a reason to terminate visitation. She knew that [name removed] and would be worried that [name removed] was hungry and so the teeth were removed from the room and the request for soup was refused. Sure enough, [name removed] came down to [name removed] room and escorted my sister & [name removed] out of the building with no explanation and I was notified 30-minutes later that our family was banned from coming to the home (inside or out) and [name removed] was no longer “available” to talk to us when we phoned. Her claim was that my grandmother had rallied and was no longer "actively dying" yet hospice continued to treat her as their patient. They actually put a patch on her neck that is used at the end of life to dry secretions in the lungs known as the death rattle. I asked that it be removed as she was so dehydrated that her eyes were glued shut and required lots of warm compresses and eye drops to allow her to open them. I know they bothered her terribly and yet she laid there unable to open them. When we would call and ask to speak with her as they previously had put the speaker on so we could talk to her, the staff would not dare allow us to talk to her and would say they were afraid of "getting in trouble by their boss"; you could hear the panic in their voices. Since I live out of state, I wasn't able to be there in person on a day-to-day basis. I played a big part in my [name removed] life. Once she took a turn for the worst (as witness firsthand when I saw her on [dates removed]) I called daily, sometimes 2 or 3 times. In response to the situation to our family being banned, I contacted [name removed] boss and she contacted the executive director. We had a Zoom meeting with [name removed] and despite the fact that it was determined (and put in writing) that we could go in once a week (Tuesday-Thursday) for one hour, [name removed] made sure that was not a reality as she claimed my grandmother was “not up for company”. We will never know if that was true or not as we were never allowed to talk to her again. It was also stated that once she was "actively dying" we could visit. We were never notified of her status change even though we called every single day. I called the administrator at Loretto Home Wednesday morning, [date removed]. and had to leave a voice message. I asked [name removed] to call me so I could hear her voice; I know that would bring her joy. I have determined from the staff that my call was hours before they began giving my [name removed] the heavy-duty pain medication (morphine) every 2-hours, that would ultimately take her life. The administrator waited until after [name removed] became unresponsive to return my call. She returned my call at 4 p.m. She was overly polite and supportive which raised red flags that something wasn't right as this woman is typically cold, unfriendly and uncaring. She said [name removed] was sleeping and she would have her staff call me when she woke up so we could chat. I politely thanked her, and she said," No problem; it's my absolute pleasure! "She made sure we would never hear [name removed] voice again. I called to check on her the next day and was given a benign update, "She's quiet and sleeping." The shock of all shockers was not even being notified of her death; she died on [date removed]. Sadly, the family only learned of my grandmother's passing when my sister [name removed] (from VA) called to check on her on Friday. An empathetic staff member was quiet when she inquired as to [name removed] condition and hesitantly said, "I'm so sorry that you weren't notified. Your grandmother passed away yesterday evening." Imagine finding out we lost our gra