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California nursing homes are taking advantage of last year’s cuts to the state’s ombudsman program and slacking off on responsibilities to their patients, according to Ombudsman Services of Northern California. The organization lost two-thirds of its staff when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed $3.8 million in funding for long-term care ombudsman programs last year, according to News 10.
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A new bill introduced in the California legislature by lawmaker and longtime nursing home rights advocate Mike Feuer aims to reverse Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s veto of $3.8 million in funding for local the Long Term Care Ombudsman programs late last year, according to the California Chronicle. Ombudsmen provide a valuable service to the elderly. Not only do they serve as advocates to nursing home residents, they also investigate and resolve complaints and make unannounced visits to nursing homes to ensure residents’ needs are being met.
Here’s a terrifying story that goes beyond comprehension. KGET-TV reports that three employees of a nursing home in Kern County, California were arrested this week for forcibly administrating psychotropic drugs to patients to make them easier to control.
Jenette Sloan went every day to the Williamsburg Village nursing home in Muncie, Indiana, to visit her 94-year-old mother, Verna Talbott. But one day in June 2007, Sloan was startled to see her mother drugged to unconsciousness with a red, swollen face, according to The Star Press. Sloan questioned nursing home employees but no one would tell her what had happened to her mother. Shortly after she left, one nurse called to tell her that they were sending Talbott to the hospital because she was hit by one of the certified nursing assistants (CNA).
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The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services has issued its most serious citation against a Winchester nursing home and as a result it will lose its Medicare and Medicaid funding, according to the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader. The citation is based on claims of abuse and neglect at Winchester Centre for Health and Rehabilitation that Health and Family Services officials would not detail. However Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency executive director Kathy Gannoe says her agency has received 31 complaints about the nursing home. Almost all were resolved satisfactorily, she says. However, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to move forward on its plans to terminate its contract with the home by February 7.
Florence Ko, 81, had lived at Nu’uano Hale, a nursing home in Honolulu, for 18 months when a week before Christmas nursing home staff dropped her off at Straub Clinic & Hospital Emergency Room dressed in a hospital gown and holding her only personal belongings – a purse and a cell phone, according to the Honolulu Advertiser.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last week posted a new system on its Web site, Nursing Home Compare, that rates all Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes with a five-star system.
Measuring the quality of a nursing home is not always clear-cut. More that 1.5 million people live in 15,000 nursing homes throughout the country. Each facility is inspected annually and must meet federal standards in order to participate in Medicaid and Medicare. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has established the site to give the public a better understanding of how nursing homes compare to others.
Armeda Thomas’ family was desperate to know the origin of Armeda’s mysterious bruises. The 84-year-old woman lived in Madison Manor nursing home in Richmond, Ken., and has Alzheimer’s Disease, which made getting the answers from her simply impossible. Even nursing home staff couldn’t tell family members why Armeda was covered in bruises. So the family took matters in their own hands and, last August, without knowledge of the nursing home, placed a hidden camera in Armeda’s room and pointed it to her bed.
A Washington, D.C.-area emergency room doctor fed up with seeing so many patients from one area nursing home sick from obvious neglect, spoke to ABC 7/News Channel 8 to warn others of the poor care offered at the home.
The doctor said he routinely sees patients from Grand Park Care Center on the verge of death with serious conditions ranging from acute kidney problems, severe pneumonia and malnutrition. He said the conditions indicate neglect by caregivers.
John may have been 92 years old and living in a nursing home, but he was no fool. When doctors discovered gangrene on the toes of his left foot, they ordered the toes be removed to save his life. Despite John’s protests, the person assigned to be his power of attorney scheduled the surgery anyway.
