Part 11: A Stark Contrast - Harbor Chase vs. Mustang Creek Estates

No, this isn't about to turn into an advertisement.

This is going to be the shortest page on the site, and it will sum up everything that's key to understanding the problem with places like Mustang Creek Estates and attorneys like Tom Stauch.

As we explained earlier, Dad spent all of 2020 at Harbor Chase Plano, an assisted living facility that weathered the pandemic by focusing on its residents (and their families) and that demonstrated true concern, empathy, and love for our father and other residents. Many of the staff knew what he'd been through and how he lost Mom. The Executive Director knew what had happened at Mustang Creek Estates - and in fact, they gave us a great deal on an apartment for Dad partially because of sympathy for the family and for Dad in particular after the way MCE had failed Mom and the family so tragically.

We won't go into detail here, but suffice it to say that Harbor Chase kept their promises to us. They weren't perfect. No one is. At times Dad had frustrations with a few staff members, or disappointment with food...things like that, but nothing very serious, and the management always - always - listened to us and did what they could to address any issues that arose. But Dad was looked after. He was cared for. He was fed. If he showed signs of having some kind of physical problem, staff did something about it - alerting us, notifying a nurse, etc.

We never worried about whether his needs were being met or whether he was being neglected. We never had to.

Dad's health deteriorated, as he suffered from congestive heart failure, and eventually as he stopped exercising the way he needed to (partly due to his mood and his loneliness), he ended up with a heart that was only functioning at 20%. He went to the hospital twice and to rehab once. Ultimately, facing the reality that he wasn't going to get better because of his fragility and weakness, preventing the kind of treatment that would have helped someone younger and healthier, we decided to put him on hospice care.

His last few days were spent back at Harbor Chase.

We weren't very pleased with hospice (the hospice agency was an outside agency) and would not recommend it to anyone, but Dad's passing was nothing like Mom's. Our dear Mother should not have died when she did. She was *not* a candidate for hospice (no, Rachel Suter, she was not), as the doctors, nurses, and therapists at Legacy Willow Bend can (and did) attest to. She was generally healthy, even though she had suffered cognitive impairment following her last surgery, and she had conquered a very aggressive and deadly cancer. She was on the mend, slowly but surely. What killed her was a UTI - a UTI that was undetected and got to her brain, which caused symptoms that the staff should have recognized, but which they passed off and explained away to us as the effects of pain medication. Even if the staff did not know her condition very well, Rachel Suter DID because she had supposedly "evaluated her" at Legeacy - and she knew something was wrong because she very ignorantly assumed that Mom was just declining and should be on hospice (we thought you didn't have medical training, Rachel...at least that's what Renee Ramsey said). And then...there's the fact that the staff absolutely did NOT make sure Mom was getting adequate liquids. When you have a UTI, you need liquids! Water especially. That in itself was severe negligence.

Dad, on the other hand, was indeed declining, and we saw his health deteriorating. We all knew he wouldn't be with us much longer. We hurt tremendously at the thought of losing him - especially so soon after losing Mom - but we didn't blame the hospice agency when he passsed, even though we weren't happy with them. And we certainly didn't blame Harbor Chase.

So, if anyone at MCE thinks we were just trying to find someone to blame for our pain and loss, think again. That is not the issue. We are hurting and grieving now because we lost our precious mother AND our father.

The problem is that we shouldn't have lost Mom the way we did. She deserved far better. She was robbed of her dignity and she was disrespected by the staff and management and owners of MCE, and by Tom Stauch as well.

The entire family has been not simply offended but utterly dismissed by the very people who could have saved Mom if they'd been attentive. The family has been bullied and threatened by a man who does not have the scruples to be honest with the authorities and the honor or integrity to admit that he chose an ugly, inhumane path when he decided to treat the family like some corporate competitor rather than a group of human beings who've been hurt and wronged by the negligence of shortsighted, selfish people.

One simple little thing illustrates so perfectly the stark contrast between Mustang Creek Estates and Harbor Chase.

After Mom died and Dad moved away from Mustang Creek, no one associated with MCE offered a refund. On the contrary, Mustang Creek attempted to bill Dad for the next month. Their excuse was that the resident agreement required a 30 day notice - even if someone dies. (They actually had Dad and Mom sign this addendum when none of the rest of the family was around - and Dad couldn't see and didn't know what it said.) Renee Ramsey didn't offer a refund out of kindness or out of moral obligation or Christian charity; when pressed for a refund, though, she said she'd only give one if the family agreed not to talk to anyone about what had happened.

And that's what MCE's attorneys keep insisting is the only way they'll do the right thing.

Dad passed away on May 9, 2021. On Mother's Day.

He had paid for all of May at Harbor Chase.

We did not request a refund.

A few weeks after he passed, the business office at Harbor Chase called and asked where they should send the refund.

The refund we did not request.

Renee Ramsey had claimed that it was "standard" in the industry to have policies like theirs.

Really, Ms. Ramsey?

This contrast between the two facilities simply serves to illustrate the whole problem with Mustang Creek Estates. Do they really care about residents? Do they really care about the families? Do they really care about doing what's right?

Having read this whole story - what do you think?

There's so much more that could be said, but we are leaving it with this...read on to our conclusion.