Marion Estates

My mother in law, Sadelle stayed at Marion Estates when we lived in Gates. This beautiful resort complex is owned by a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When her birthday came up, her blood pressure elevated so she was sent to the hospital and then placed in the nursing home at Marion Estates. I thought it was odd that the staff said we should clear out her room. Why didn’t they expect her to recover and come back? Her money had recently run out and she went on Medicare. She was put on comfort care in the nursing home without knowledge or notification of family. There was nothing seriously wrong with her. Comfort care means withdrawal of food and water and morphine given to kill the pain of dying. When we called her at the nursing home, we wondered why she always said she was thirsty and wanted water. After 4 days, my husband sent me to investigate what was going on. I was told by staff that I was not to feed her. I thought that was odd. I called Jeanine, her daughter in Illinois and my husband. I told my husband that I wasn’t going to leave her. I told him that I would stay with her and that he needed to arrange for me to sleep in a chair by her bed and bring what I needed. I slowly gave her water and sips of juice. Her lips hurt and it was painful for her to even use a straw. She wasn’t in good shape. After 3 days, I asked for her to be lifted in a wheel chair so I could take her outside in the sun for a few minutes. When I was going through the halls, one nurse said, “it’s a miracle.” It’s amazing what a little water and juice will do!

Comfort care is real and family needs to be aware that this can happen to your loved one. Comfort care could be genocide of the elderly in this country. Other dangers lurk in assisted living complexes, like Marion Estates. Money was taken from Sadelle by staff. I suspected that there was sexual abuse during the night shift because of a comment of one of the male aids. Later when she was in Heart of the Valley in Corvallis, an aid was arrested for sexually abusing elderly women on the night shift. Even the best places, the most beautiful resort-like settings have problems and you need to visit every day.

We complained about Marion Estates to the State of Oregon. Did anything happen? No. The complaint was put in the bottom drawer and never saw the light of day. Let’s not do anything to impede the progress of Comfort Care.

My husband called and had Sadelle taken from Marion Estates to Corvallis Manor where she fell 9 times in 6 months. We found out later that the administrator of Corvallis Manor used to work at Marion Estates.

Sadelle wasn’t an easy individual to get along with at times. She was in assisted living complexes in Illinois, and often caused trouble by calling the authorities on staff. One was a Baptist nursing home where she had to listen every day during lunch that Jews killed Jesus. Sadelle was a brilliant Jewish woman who was very independent. I admired her spunk and I thought that at her age, she had the right to be her self and say what she wanted.

I did everything I could to please her when she lived with us but she didn’t want to stay. I put individual servings of things she loved on her own shelf in the refrigerator. She had her own room and her own bathroom. She didn't like my cooking, even my homemade bread. I offered to get a small refrigerator for her room for snacks. I put lots of snacks on the table. I was determined to have her like me. She didn’t. She said that I should leave so I did. I stayed with my daughter and then at a hotel until my husband found her space somewhere. While I was gone, Sadelle called 911 to say she was locked on a mountaintop without food. My husband was there when the investigator from social services came who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. He saw she had plenty of food, a clean home, and everything she needed. He suggested Marion Estates for Sadelle and you know how that turned out…

During the last part of her stay at Marion Estates, my husband and I lived in Alsea. Just as we moved into town, the nursing home closed up. Interesting…since the one making the decision was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Interesting………..