Nursing home advocates are protesting cuts to the state's Medicaid program that will result in deep cuts in staffing. The advocates claim the cuts will result in a worse level of care and that the cuts in Ohio may be just the beginning of cuts to nursing homes around the country.
Continue Reading...The Wisconsin Legislature on Thursday passed a bill reforming the state's regulation of nursing homes. The bill gives the state more power to revoke and suspend nursing homes' licenses and sue them for violation of federal rules, but it will also result in fewer citations being issued and give the homes more time to pay fines. It is estimated that homes will pay $1.5 million less per year in fines under the new system.
Continue Reading...The Nursing Home Complaint Center is now making cases of sepsis, septic shock, wrongful death and broken bones in elder care facilities its highest priority. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Nursing Home Complaint Center will investigate any case where relatives of elderly individuals have proof that their loved ones died as a result of neglect or abuse that led to their suffering from any of these ailments.
Continue Reading...A Missoula, Montana group is currently working to educate elderly people on how they can prevent from falling. Community Medical Center physical therapist Mary Thane states that there are various classes that elderly individuals may take in order to learn what they can do to prevent falls.
Continue Reading...The Governor of Connecticut has announced that the state received $2 million in federal funding for health care to develop a new way to conduct background checks for nursing home employees. Connecticut is reportedly one of six states to receive the federal grant through the Affordable Care Act. According to the report, the new background checks will allow employers to determine if a potential employee has any previous criminal charges or any other information that may disqualify them from employment.
Continue Reading...The Yuma Sun reports that the Yuma County Elder Abuse Task Force hosted an event in Arizona to provide senior citizens the proper tools and information to be able to protect themselves against elder abuse. The Yuma County Elder Abuse Task Force worked together with the Western Arizona Council of Governments to host the event at the Yuma Art Center.
Continue Reading...According to a report on unionleader.com, the New Hampshire Bureau of elderly and Adult Services has been given $1.4 million in federal funding to help provide better long-term care to seniors and disabled adults.
Continue Reading...The Salem News has posted a report about a task force formed by Elder Services in Danvers, MA to contend with the issue of hoarding. The report states in one incident a Danvers woman was seriously injured and sent to the hospital after a pile of her things fell on top of her. The woman was reportedly trapped underneath the pile for about a day before she was discovered.
Continue Reading...The Canadian federal government is providing funding that will help non-profit organizations that assist in making seniors renovate their facilities and acquire new equipment. The funding program allows facilities up to $25,000 to make these renovations. The program was launched on August 30th and the deadline to apply for funding was October 8th.
Continue Reading...The Nursing Home Complaint Center, a national advocacy group for nursing home residents' rights, is launching a nationwide investigation into wrongful deaths at nursing homes. The group is asking for family members who suspe ct their loved ones were the victims of wrongful death to contact them.
Continue Reading...Today marks the beginning of Residents Rights Week. This event, which will run through October 11, is designed to raise awareness of the rights of residents of all long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, group homes, and assisted living facilities. This year's theme is "Recipe for Home: Defining and Creating Home in Long-Term Care Facilities."
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On Tuesday, September 21, the 16th Annual World Alzheimer's Day, over 55 Alzheimer's researchers arrived on Capitol Hill to urge action on the National Alzheimer's Project Act, a bill that would make Alzheimer's a national health care priority. The event was the culmination of cross country bike ride that gathered more than 100,000 signatures supporting the bill.
Continue Reading...Following a series of newspaper stories on the prevalence of nursing home abuse in Kentucky, an advocacy group is calling for the governor to appoint a special task force to combat the problem. A series in the Kentucky Herald-Leader has reported that Kentucky nursing homes have had more than 100 citations for serious violations over the past three years, but that few have been prosecuted as crimes.
Continue Reading...While society has made great strides in highlighting and fighting abuse against women and children over the last 30 years, elder abuse has not gained the same amount of attention. A first-of-its-kind center at the University of California-Irvine is hoping to change that. The Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse & Neglect provides technical assistance, best-practices information, multidisciplinary training, and research to elder care professionals throughout the state.
Continue Reading...June 15 is the fifth annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The event is organized by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) to raise awareness of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The day will feature events around the country and the world designed to educate about elder abuse.
Continue Reading...This article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette details efforts by groups around the country to change the culture of nursing homes. The culture change movement focuses on increasing choice and independence for the elderly and moving away from the traditional institutional nursing home model.
Continue Reading...An Oregon mental health worker is suing the state for $1 million, claiming that she was verbally abused after she complained about the abuse of group home clients. The woman claims that co-workers at the State Department of Health Services verbally attacked her and used racial epithets after she raised concerns about abuse and improper care at the state-run group homes and the stress caused by these attacks eventually forced her to leave her job.
Continue Reading...The ABC15 Investigators are investigating Arizona adult guardian group Sun Valley Group of Tempe after several allegations of abuse and possibly criminal behavior. Adult guardians are court-appointed representatives who are entrusted with protecting the rights and interests of adults who cannot make decisions for themselves, such elders who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's disease. In addition to the many complaints from family members documented by ABC15, Sun Valley Group is also the subject of two separate criminal investigations.
Continue Reading...When an Arizona parent needs nursing home care, overseeing that care usually falls on whichever child happens to live in Arizona. This article is for that “responsible” child who just happens to live here.
The first question one must ask is whether any patient can receive quality care in a nursing home. We’ve all heard the horror stories about the warehousing of nursing home patients, who are just waiting to die.
Although nursing home care in Arizona is often less than adequate, I believe that it is possible for nursing home patients to receive quality care. However, in order to receive that level of care, patients must have a knowledgeable advocate.
Nursing Home Advocacy 101.
Nursing home advocacy doesn’t require a degree in nursing or medicine, just time, tenacity, and a little information.
Communication is the First Lesson.
One of the major problems in the nursing home is lack of communication between and among families, nursing staff, and physicians.
So how do you, as the patient’s advocate open channels of communication?
Become Aware of the Patient’s Needs.
Become aware of your loved one’s needs. Are they bed bound? Can they feed themselves? Are they taking a new medication?
Communication Just Doesn’t Happen by Itself.
Very few families understand that they have to become involved in facilitating communication within the nursing home.
Families are led to believe that the nursing staff will provide the physician with all the information about the patients. Families are also led to believe that the nursing staff will provide all the nursing care the patient requires. Unfortunately, both of these assumptions are not correct.
Nurses and nurses' aides are short staffed in nursing homes and are unable to provide all the necessary care the patients require. Physicians, who are responsible for the care of patients at nursing homes, rely too heavily on the nursing staff to follow physician orders or to perform adequate nursing care.
Meet with the Patient’s Nursing Home Physician.
Discuss your loved one’s needs, in person, with the nursing home's primary care physician. Find out when the physician plans to be at the facility for his regular visits with the patients, and meet him there.
Patient advocates must take steps to encourage physicians to personally take a close look at their loved one’s condition and ensure that the nursing staff is functioning as intended.
So, when meeting with physicians at the nursing home, ask them to check the condition of the patient. For example, if the patient appears to be losing weight, ask the physician to weigh the patient. If the patient has in fact lost weight, ask the physician to meet with you, the dietitian, and the nursing staff to discuss how to encourage weight gain.
The advocate may become a “pest”, but the physician won’t be able to say that he had no idea that his orders weren’t being followed or that he was unaware that the patient’s condition has changed.
It is the primary physician’s responsibility to know the care your loved one is receiving at the nursing home. If the patient is losing weight, the physician should determine why the patient is losing weight. The physician must ensure that his patient is eating his meals and if not, the reason why not. The physician must then take action to ensure adequate nutrition.
If the patient is bed bound, the physician needs to examine the patient’s skin in order to determine whether his patient is developing pressure ulcers (bed sores). And, if the patient has pressure ulcers, the physician must ensure that his patient is being turned and repositioned regularly and is also receiving adequate nutrition.
The advocate must be the vehicle by which the physician is encouraged to completely check the patient’s status, during each visit, and not merely rely on what he is being told or not being told by the nursing staff.
Make Regular Visits to the Nursing Home.
When you visit your loved one in the nursing home, visit during the morning, lunch, and evening meals which are the busiest times of the day. This will give you the opportunity to determine whether the nursing staff is able to attend to patient needs during stressful situations.
During your visits, check the following and report any changes you observe to the nursing staff and the patient’s physician:
1. Patient’s weight.
2. The percentage of breakfast, lunch and dinner the patient has eaten.
3. The patient’s skin condition (twice a week) for signs of red, blistered, or broken skin on hips, buttocks, shoulders, or any place that comes into contact with the mattress or wheel chair cushion.
4. The patient’s medication record documenting medications that were supposed to be given.
5. Look for any change in the patient’s condition including eating patterns, sleep patterns, falls, bowel movements, agitation, etc.
Meet the Director of Nursing.
The Director of Nursing (DON) is the highest level of nurse management in the nursing home. Introduce yourself to the DON and explain what you know about your loved one’s needs, likes, and dislikes. The DON is responsible for making sure there are enough nursing staff at the facility and is the “go to” person when nursing care isn’t up to par.
If, as a result of your observations, the patient is not receiving adequate care, speak with the DON and the patient’s physician.
If matters don’t improve, speak with the Administrator, who is the general manager of the nursing home.
If there still is no improvement, consider moving the resident to another facility. If matters are such that you decide to move the patient you should inform the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) which is the regulatory agency in Arizona responsible for overseeing nursing homes.
The patient advocate is the additional oil that keeps the nursing home engine running well. When the oil is low and the engine spurts, the advocate is there to move things along.
It is unfortunate that nursing home patients need an outside observer and facilitator to get the care that Medicare and Arizona Long Term Care have paid for, and that patients are entitled to receive.
Our Next Article.
Our next article will discuss avoidable pressure ulcers (bed sores), a principal killer of nursing home patients.
The “Guardian Blog” will continue to provide information to help both families and professionals assess and improve the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialog with and among its readers.
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