Broken Things (Faded Photograph Series) (12 page)

“I want this patient cleaned up immediately.”

“That’s what I was ‘bout to do.”

Allie took another step toward the woman’s doorway.

“Now you be careful,” Kenny warned. “She’s violent.”

Again, the patient cried out. “I couldn’t hurt a flea, you idiot, otherwise you’d be dead for all the things you did to me!”

Imagining what sort of “things,” caused Allie’s breakfast to creep up her esophagus. She narrowed her gaze at Kenny. “Get this patient cleaned and changed―and do it as though your job depends on it. Because it does.”

“All right, all right.” He walked away at a snail’s pace. “Ever’one’s in a hurry these days.”

Casting a glance at Jessie, Allie noticed contrition pooled in the nurse’s eyes, so she held back another reprimand.

“Don’t leave me. Please. Please…” The woman sobbed. “Please, for the love of God, don’t…leave…me…”

Allie knew she couldn’t abandon the woman, crazy or not. She would, however, take special care in case the patient was, indeed, violent or suffered with something contagious.

Standing to one side, she peered into the repugnant-smelling room. She cringed, wondering how these employees could stand working in such stench. Worse, how awful to be a patient and left to lie in it!

Squinting into the darkness, Allie could barely make out the ghostly figure in the bed. She almost laughed. The patient had been right. In her feeble state she couldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a strapping young man like Kenny. “I won’t leave, ma’am. I’ll make sure you’re cared for. When you’re cleaned up, I’ll come in a talk to you. All right?”

Allie had to pull back out of the room to breathe again.

“Don’t leave, don’t leave…” the woman whimpered. “Pleeeeeeese!”

“I won’t leave,” Allie promised again. Looking hard at Jessie, she added, “I’m going to stay right here and make sure everything is in order before the first shift arrives.”

Chapter Nine

With each passing minute, Allie grew more appalled by sights around her. The patient in Room 8 wasn’t the only one suffering from neglect. The man in Room 3 appeared to be in similar shape, although he wasn’t conscious as far as Allie could tell. Out of the twenty patients residing on the this floor, she discovered four who required immediate attention, and three of them, including the woman in Room 8, were calling out for help―or had been until she’d arrived. Many others were heavily sedated.

“Where would I find an incident report?” Allie stepped into the nurse’s station.

A slender African-American woman with short hair opened the bottom to the right of where she sat near the computer. She pulled a printed form from a hanging file. “This would be what you need.”

“Thanks.” Allie held out her right hand and introduced herself.

“I’m Sherelle Barnes, the unit secretary.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Same here.” After giving Allie’s hand a polite shake, Sherelle resumed her work on the computer.

Form in hand, Allie made her way into Room 8. Reaching it, she rapped on the door. “Ma’am? Can I come in?”

“Yes,” the woman rasped.

The heavy draperies were closed, so Allie walked to the windows. “It’s shaping up to be a lovely morning. Would you like some sunshine?”

“What’s that?” Sarcasm tainted the patient’s reply. “I’ve been in the dark so long I’ve forgotten.”

Allie took the comment as a yes and pulled the draperies open. Brilliant light filled the room and she got a better view of the mere specter of a woman, lying in the bed. The poor dear looked like a skeleton with fragile rice paper pressed over her bones. Allie guessed her age to be at least ninety, and she was amazed at the patient’s feistiness, given her present condition.

“My name is Allison Littenberg. Please call me Allie.”

The woman’s head lulled in her direction and rheumy blue eyes stared at her.

“I was hired almost two weeks ago as the consultant here at Arbor Springs. We’re in the process of making improvements.”

“Plenty of room for improvement around here.”

“So I see.” Allie narrowed her gaze and took a step closer. “Is that a bruise around your left eye?”

“Probably. That imbecile CNA hit me. Then he wanted me to say he was the best nursing assistant I ever had.” The patient let out a guffaw. “He can go straight to he―”

“I get the picture,” Allie put in quickly. She pulled up a chair. “But let’s you and I agree to something right now. I’ll talk like a lady to you and you do the same. No profanity, okay? It’s not necessary.”

The patient’s gaze roamed over her skeptically before she gave a nod. “Agreed.”

“Good.” Allie smiled. “Now, why don’t we start at the beginning? With your permission, I’m going to fill out an incident report.”

“Go for it.”

“Last name?”

“Matlock.”

“First?”

“Cynthia.”

“Middle initial?”

“R.”

“Home Address?”

“None.”

Allie glanced up from her form. “None?”

“Well, this place, I guess. I’m essentially homeless.” The woman exhaled a wheezy sound.

“No family members whose address―?

“I said I’m homeless,” Cynthia barked.

Saying nothing, Allie wrote “N/A” in the address line.

“Sorry,” the woman said grudgingly. “I’m in a lot of pain. I didn’t get a shot all night.” Tears slipped from the woman’s eyes, now closed. Her head wagged back and forth on the pillow. “I hurt so much…”

“Let me see what I can do. I’ll be right back.”

Exiting the room, Allie hailed Jessie to the nurses’ station. “The patient in Room 8 wants some pain medication.”

“She just had some.”

“Who gave it to her?”

“Um…” Jessie frowned, looking confused.

“Since you’re the only RN on the floor during third shift, and since the rest of the staff are CNAs, I’m assuming it would have to be you who dispersed the medication. Correct?”

“Yes, but I thought…” Jessie’s gaze swept the surrounding area before coming back to Allie. “Um, let me check the chart, and talk to Kenny. I’ll get back to you.”

“Quickly, please.”

Returning to Mrs. Matlock’s room, Allie added disorganization and insufficient nursing skills to the growing list of problems. She thought back to the day she’d first toured this floor. Things had seemed to run smoothly. Was the problem solely with the Night Shift crew?

Allie hoped so―prayed so.

“The nurse is going to come in soon.”

“I won’t hold my breath,” Cynthia rasped. “That’s what they say all the time.”

Allie grimaced and picked up the form. “Okay, where were we? Oh, yes, no address…”

“If you must know, my two daughters dropped me off here one day and left. I had no idea they’d planned to stick me a nursing home. I would have slit my wrists, if I did. Before here, I lived with them in a rented duplex. I’ve tried to call them, so has the doctor, but the phone’s disconnected. I think they moved. It’d be just like them.”

“I’m sorry.” Dying with no family, no loved ones close at hand? Allie was moved with pity for the woman…until the thought crossed her mind that she could be making the whole thing up. Perhaps she was delirious. Maybe she had been given narcotics just before Allie arrived on the floor.

Jessie came in, holding a syringe. She gave Allie a guilty look. “I was under the impression that Mrs. Matlock didn’t have orders from her physician for any more pain medication. But I was…um…misinformed.”

“That’s because that―” Cynthia seemed to remember their bargain as she looked at Allie. “That
jerk
,” she said pointedly, “said he was good at changing doctor’s orders. He said he wouldn’t give me any pain medication unless I did everything he told me.”

Watching the injection being administered, Allie had to ask. “What did he want you to do?”

“Shut up.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, not you. That’s what that jerk CNA wanted. He wanted me to shut up, but I wouldn’t. I needed to be changed. I needed medication…”

The woman’s voice trailed off, just as Jessie pulled the needle from her arm.

“You’ll feel better soon, Mrs. Matlock.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you. Where were you all night? Where were you when that attendant pulled my hair and hit me?”

Jessie’s face reddened. “I don’t know anything about that.” Shaking her head, she looked at Allie.

“Course not,” Cynthia crooned on. “You were too busy watching TV.”

Allie raised an inquiring brow.

“I’m not saying anything until my supervisor comes in this morning.”

“What time is that?” Allie asked.

“Eight.”

“Fine. I’ll be here.”

Without another word, the nurse left and Allie returned her attention to Mrs. Matlock. “Why don’t we continue?”

“Sure. But you’d better hurry. I’ll be out soon. With any luck, I’ll die in my sleep.”

Allie wanted to rebuke the woman for such a remark, but realized she would most likely feel the same way, given the circumstances. Of course, Allie knew heaven awaited her. Did Mrs. Matlock have that same peace?

“Date of birth,” Allie asked.

“Twelve, thirty-one, forty-six.”

Allie’s pen lingered above the numbers as she did the math. That made this woman only four years older than she. “Just to clarify, you’re fifty-three years old. Correct?”

“Yep. And I was born on New Year’s Eve. That’s why I like to party. Party hearty, as they say. And I did, too―until I got cancer.”

Allie swallowed the rest of her surprise, wondering if Mrs. Matlock’s lifestyle had aged her beyond her years more so than her terminal illness.

“Will you please tell me in detail what happened last night and this morning?”

Cynthia’s watery gaze fell upon Allie. “It would be my pleasure!”

* * *

“We’re not calling the police, Allie.”

With arms folded, she regarded Evan Jacobs from the far end of her office. It was nearly noon and they’d been discussing the situation for the better part of the morning. “It’s the right thing to do. A crime has been committed.”

“No, allegations have been proved.”

“I suppose Mrs. Matlock gave herself that shiner.”

“The CNA maintains she fell.”

“A police investigation will determine who’s right and who’s wrong.” Allie fumed. “After taking Mrs. Matlock’s report, and having heard two other patients’ complaints of neglect this morning, I have reason to believe there is more wrong with the care here at Arbor Springs than mere allegations suggest. You can’t bury this incident.”

“Who’s trying to bury it?” Evan stepped closer. “Lakeland Enterprises if fully prepared to make restitution where restitution is due…and quit shaking your head at me like that.”

“Not good enough.”

“Allie, you don’t understand. If we call the police, the media is going to find out about this and then Lakeland Enterprises will be smeared across the front page of the
Tribune.
We can’t afford that kind of PR.”

“I’m well aware of the ramifications. However, I think Lakeland will fare far better with the press if its executives come forward about these allegations instead of handling them internally.”

“I know don’t, Allie.” Evan began to pace.

She had already decided her course of action―even if it meant her job. But then an idea struck. “Evan, you should hold a press conference this afternoon.”

“What?” He halted and stared at her. “That’s out of the question.”

“Listen, it’s a great idea.” Allie paused in thought, working her lower lip between her teeth. “You can say something like Lakeland is playing a proactive role in all this and, getting the police involved is only the first step. You can announce that you’ve hired a consultant to reorganize Arbor Springs’ internal affairs and that you intend to do everything within your power to see that justice is brought to the assailants of these mistreated patients.”

“Except we’re not sure that they were really mistreated. Besides, publicly admitting something of that nature opens us up to lawsuits.” Evan gave a derisive snort. “Even thought Mrs. Matlock stated she had no family, she’d suddenly have relatives coming out the woodwork. Mark my words.”

“Hm…” Again, Allie thought it over and decided he was probably correct on at least that account. “All right then. Just say that Lakeland plans to do everything in its power to aid in the investigation.”

“That sounds a little better.” Evan sighed audibly. “This is my worst nightmare.”

“It’s been that and more for some of your patients. Evan, you simply cannot tolerate such abuse in your facility.”

“I neither tolerate nor condone it.”

“Then do the right thing.” She watched as he struggled with his conscience. “It’s all a matter of perspective. You could turn this thing around, you know?”

“I’ll have to phone the other board members…”

“Fine. But I won’t wait around for their replies. If you don’t call the police, I will. There’s a dying woman upstairs who, I believe, was brutalized last night and something must be done.”

Evan gave her a hard stare and, obviously displeased with the ultimatum. But Allie planned to stand her ground. A healthcare corporation shouldn’t exist, in her opinion, if it had so little regard for human life, hence the word
healthcare.

Besides, Allie had attained her primary goal in coming back to Chicago. She had been able to see Jack again, as disappointing as it was, and she’d been given the chance to tell him what Jehovah God had done in her own life. She had seen her stepsister Colleen and planned to see Brenda this weekend.

All in all, her trip had been a success. She didn’t need this job or the aggravation that would follow once the police were notified.

“Very well,” Evan said at last. “Call the cops. But I’ve got some phone calls of my own to make, so if you’ll excuse me…”

Allie inclined her head. “By all means.”

She watched Evan leave her office before lifting the telephone’s receiver to her ear. She pressed the three keys for Directory Assistance, grateful that Arbor Springs Healthcare Facility wasn’t in Oakland Park. If it were, she might have Jack and Evan both to contend with, and wouldn’t that be just―to borrow Jack’s word―
peachy
?!