Woman leaves day care early

Ellen McCarty

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Mary Spadoni removed her mother, Ann Stone, from day

care Monday, 10 days before she was required to do so. Spadoni said she

doesn’t trust the staff to treat the 89-year-old Alzheimer’s patient

kindly after Spadoni staged a protest during the facility’s open house

Sept. 12.

“I’m angry and frustrated and I just don’t trust them,” she said.

“They’re ignoring me, and I don’t want to imagine how they might take

this out on my mother.”

Dr. Cordula Dick-Muehlke, the director of Adult Daycare Services of

Orange County’s Huntington Beach facility, has still not complied with

Spadoni’s request to see her mother’s medical records.

Spadoni, a Costa Mesa resident, was told by Dick-Muehlke that the

facility would consult a lawyer and get back to the family within 24

hours. Spadoni said that hasn’t happened. Spadoni hopes the medical

records will explain why the patient must be moved from day care to

full-time medical care.

“No one has called me or my attorney,” Spadoni said. “I still haven’t

been able to access my mother’s medical records. They have indicated that

I’m going to sue the center, but that is a lie. I just wanted to prove

that my mother is fit to stay in day care.”

Dick-Muehlke offered no comment Tuesday, saying she would “follow up with

Mary” in person, not through the newspaper. Maureen Mazzatenta, a

spokeswoman for Adult Daycare Services, added that Spadoni would need to

get legal authorization to view her mother’s medical records.

Meanwhile Spadoni is interviewing candidates for in-home care and

considering nursing home care, which at a private facility costs $3,800 a

month.

“I haven’t seen any Medi-Cal nursing homes that I would trust with my

mother,” she said. “The insurance pays only $2,000, which to me means

half the cost for half the care. Private care will be a financial death

sentence for me, but I’m hoping the hoo-ha we made at the protest will

help other patients stay in day care, for at least a few more months,

than they might have otherwise.”