"We checked out the home and the rating on it when we put her in," Peggy Kennedy reportedly said after her mother, Sarah Wentworth, froze to death in February in the courtyard of her nursing home, The Arbor, in Itasca.
When the family originally checked, however, The Arbor didn't have the 22 violations uncovered in its last annual inspection by Illinois' Department of Public Health. It didn't have the two-star overall rating (five is the best, one the worst) rating that Medicare inspectors now give it. (There are private websites, like Member of the Family , which compile rankings for nursing homes across the country.)
Sarah's tragic story underlines the need to keep checking, but it doesn't solve the dilemma of what to do if a nursing home's conditions deteriorate. As the daughter of another Arbor resident noted in talking with the media, "It's difficult because at this stage my mom's 89 years old. It's very hard. It's hard to move them."
Hard but certainly not impossible - and sometimes necessary. IDPH regulates, licenses and - at least once a year - inspects the 1,200 long-term care facilities it's responsible for in the state. It reports conducting some 10,000 surveys annually, for licensing, complaints and reinspection. It also helps the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services certify the facilities for government payments. Every facility must meet the standards in the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act.
If a nursing home doesn't measure up, you can certainly find out.
Plus you can help improve a nursing home where your loved one lives by keeping track of conditions when you visit. Medicare's website provides a four-page checklist you can use to evaluate a nursing home - and to keep evaluating it. It guides you to be aware of the appearance of residents, their rooms and common spaces, how residents and staff get along with each other, the quality of food and activities, and the safeguards and medical care the home provides.
If the nursing home falls short, and won't listen to you when you raise issues, you can call the Department of Public Health's 24/7 Nursing Home Hotline (800-252-4343). It receives nearly 19,000 calls a year leading to more than 5,000 complaints
And then, if no-one listens, you can contact an attorney who specializes in nursing home law. We can go to bat for you with the nursing home. After all, preventing neglect and abuse is more important than punishing someone after it's too late to help your loved one.
Michael Kosner, President
The Kosner Firm Chtd.
