River Brook Healthcare Center

My father was put into Hospice on Sept 3 and had to leave the cardiac unit at SGMC in Valdosta. The family wanted to get him closer to his home, which was Homerville. Riverbrook was highly recommended by his case manager. However, when we arrived (my dad via ambulance transport) at 9pm that night we were sadly disappointed in what we walked into. We were told there were no single rooms, but double. My father was put into a room with 3 beds. The man who occupied the middle bed, kept asking everyone for a cookie and had the one tv in the room turned all the way up watching Britney Spears. By this time it is after 10 pm. Keep in mind my dad is now on hospice care and only has a few days left. We were told my stepmom could stay with him, however there were no chairs in his corner of the room, and yes it was a corner. His bed was pushed along the side of the wall and shoved in a corner. One dress for the whole room and one tv. My dad became very upset and agitated by all the noise (the tv, the man begging everyone for some cookies). To make matters worse and even more heartbreaking, a huge roach crawled up the wall behind his head and I saw food on the floor in front of the dresser with ants on it. A chair was finally brought for my step mother to sit. It was a metal folding chair. We asked if there was another room, that this was not comforting to him or the family who was trying to make his final days as comfortable for him as possible. We ended calling an ambulance to take him to Clinch Memorial Hospital the situation at River Brook so bad. My dad ended up being at River Brook a few hours. During this time, no one came in to check on my dad or the gentleman in the next bed. I saw a nurse sitting at the end of the hall eating, but never doing rounds. My dad ended up passing 2 days later at Clinch Memorial Hospital. The care the nurses and staff at Clinch Memorial gave my dad and the family was above and beyond. I would not recommend River Brook if an alternative place can be found. It was not clean, no privacy for patients and the staff did not seem very attentive, or atleast the night staff. I can not speak for how the day staff is, since we immediately had my dad transferred when we saw the condition of the place.