Nursing home nightmare in Georgia?
Marcus Yam / AJC Special
A recent nursing home report by the Inspector General’s Office of the federal Department of Health and Human Services paints a bleak picture when it comes to Georgia’s nursing homes. Nearly 90 percent of Georgia’s nursing homes received violations of federal health and safety standards in 2007. The national average was even worse, at 92 percent.
Despite the dismal report, there are many Georgia nursing homes that have caring staff members. In the photo above, the staff at the Golden Living center in Decatur are caring for one of their favorite residents, Georgia Ruth Merrill, who celebrated her 105th birthday at the nursing home this year.
Quality of care and quality of life issues are the most common violations reported nationally. Those that work in nursing homes cite low pay and difficult working conditions as the reason for high employee turnover and inferior care of residents.
Have you placed a loved one in a nursing home? What do you think are the most important things to look for when choosing a nursing home?
12 comments Add your comment
Jennifer Hines, CNA, AD, Chairperson for CNA on the Move
October 27th, 2008
1:04 pm
I think that Nursing Homes were designed to help families with non-medical skills to care for the older adults. It is hard to care for someeone you love so dearly in a professional medical manner. We as CNA have that same love and care in our hearts for the older adults and their families. But when working conditions are poor, supplies are poor, equipment poor, training has become from 6 months to 85 hours thing are not going to get better. A Nursing assistants enter the world of nursing not only because she/he cant afford nursing school but because no matter what caring for people is what we love to do. The Nursing homes pay nursing assistants 10-15% of the income of a resident but we have to provide 85% of the care. We cant afford to care for our own children and families and that makes is hard to care for anyone else. As a CNA I am proud of my career but is suffering to continue to do what i am doing. My back hurts I cant afford healthcare so when i work i must take the shortcut just to save myself for another day. The high turnovers for CNA is because we can go to any fastfood, Grocery Store, or department store and make more income to provide for our children. So I say to all CNA’s of Georgia Contact me Jennifer Hines, Chairperson for Certified Nursing Assistants on the Move and help to Build a Voice for all CNA’s over Georgia. Sonny Perdue proclaim June 12 -19 as Nursing Assistant Week. jenhines2002@yahoo.com
priscilla
November 10th, 2008
2:34 pm
Nursing Homes are business,not a caring place.i agree with this statment A Nursing assistants enter the world of nursing not only because she/he can’t afford nursing school but because no matter what caring for people is what we love to do. The Nursing homes pay nursing assistants 10-15% of the income of a resident but we have to provide 85% of the care.i think they should step up to plate and do the job right(Nursing Homes).
susan
January 2nd, 2009
12:25 pm
I have had my mom in 3 different assisted living places and have now brought her to my home because of the poor conditions and poor care. I never went and found her dry. She was so drugged that she never knew when I came. And being incontinent,they only removed her wet clothes once per week. I had to go to bathe her myself because they said she refused a bath. I am very upset with the situation and try to encourage people not to put their parents there. I understand that workeres are underpaid but the facilities are way overpriced taking all the money these little old people have saved up and not givning the quality of care they deserve.
Margaret
January 9th, 2009
2:09 pm
Enter your comments here
My mother had to be placed in two personal care homes and two nursing homes before she went home to be with the Lord because of Alz’s. All four places were to her determent. She went from bad to worst in each one of these facillities. Not one of them helped her. They all had serious staffing and caring problems. If I had it to do over I would keep her in my home at all cost. The mental health medication was the worst. Namenda and Seraquill both put my mother in a state almost as bad as the Alz’s itself.
Susan
January 16th, 2009
11:21 pm
I absolutely agree! My aged aunt has been in-patient for two years and all of a sudden they are trying to put her psychotic drugs. There is no medical reason for this sudden interest so I can only assume they want her in a stupor so they can provide less care / man hours per day on her care.
jackie Holcomb
January 21st, 2009
3:14 pm
I have worked as a cna for a little over 15 years, and I really do love what I do. However there are many parts of my job that I don’t like. Like, the fact that although I am the primary provider of care in the nursing home my role as an employee is to be seen and not heard. The facility don’t really care about the needs of their patients. They only care that the patients are paying for a room.
Desira
January 24th, 2009
7:44 am
I have been a cna for 23yrs and I love what do and I love nursing homes more than anything but moved to ga from IL,and it has been really bad can’t understand why they don’t pay anything here . so because of that I had to go to a hospital to get a job because the pay alittle bite more .I just think its really sad that you can’t do the job you really because of pay .
Julie Larson
February 5th, 2009
11:45 pm
I have been a CNA for 19yrs I have seen first hand on how others treat the patients. And to me there is no reason for anyone to be treated that way. I often wounder what was the whole reason why they became CNA’s LPN’s, and RN’s. Wasnt it to help those who can not help themselves. That is why I became a CNA and am pushing myself to become a RN. And it not about the money, ya it’s nice but money don’t save lives people who care like me do. And if that is the reason why people become CNA’s,LPN’s or RN’s then there in it from the start for all the wrong reasons. I love what I do and I love talking to every patient even if they can’t, they love it when I start talking to them and like there a child like an adult that is all they want to have someone who cares enough about them to just sit there long enouph to hear what they have to say and conversate with them. And you made a friend and thy know you care.
Julia
March 16th, 2009
1:09 pm
I recently took a job as a Wellness Director in a assisted living facility and quit after 3 weeks. In the facility I was in, the maintenance staff had been let go 8 months prior, the housekeeping staff was terminated 4 months prior, almost all the residents were chemically restrained and on top of the monthly room and board the residents were “nickel and dimed” for what should be considered basic care. It is a sad state for the elderly in the state of Ga.
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Cecillia
March 30th, 2009
2:50 pm
Julia or anyone out there. I want to take my Medical Assisting students on a field trip to the worst nursing home in Atlanta. They should also have a disastourus ALZHEM unit. I want my students to see first hand what they must not do. Who do you recommend for a tour and for a couple of hours so my students can work with some patients as a learning experience. Send me an e-mail with your suggestions. cshailey@yahoo.com
Joyce
May 10th, 2009
7:30 pm
I am a registered nurse but mostly a daughter who loves her mother. I have managed to keep my now 80 year old mom at home with the assistance of my elderly aunt and my children since my mom broke her arm 2 years ago. She has numerous physical problems and has become more debilitated as time as gone by though up til now we have weathered all the storms. With a fall two weeks ago resulting in a fractured hip, her condition is now essentially bedridden. In order to get rehab services at a pace I hoped she could handle, five days ago I placed her in a nursing rehab facility that was highly recommended for its rehab services. On day 3 I found that her surgery dressing had not been changed for 2 days and she was developing 2 decubiti. When the nurse came in to change the dressing, she left a pair of sharp pointed sissors in my mom’s bed and left the room. I found the sissors when I was positioning my mom. That night, she was overdosed on narcotics and when I came to see her the next day noticed that she was becoming less alert,unable to speak, and her breathing was more labored. I had an ambulance called and my mom was admitted to the hopsital with drug overdose, congestive heart failure, 2 decubiti and an INR (blood thinness level) of 4 (therapeutic level is 2-3). She remains in the hospital as I research ratings of local nursing facilities knowing that all are likely to give inferior care. I am at a total loss of what to do at this point. I will not take my mom back to that facility and I have lost hope that my mom will ever walk again. My aunt can’t continue to help with my mom as she is and I, like so many others, have to work regardless of how much we want to take care of our parents. I know I will have to place my mother in another nursing home but just at the thoughts of the care she will receive makes me sick. I know how difficult the work is for the aides, but in my case, the most detrimental care came from the nurses. There is no excuse for overdosing an elderly patient. If you are a nurse who works with the elderly, you should know about the effects of medications on those with debilitating frail physical conditions. To me, and to you if it had been your parent, there is no excuse. Had I not went to see my mom when I did she would be dead from a drug overdose.
Bernard Woods - Augusta
October 11th, 2009
9:33 pm
I need to report a substandard facility in East Point, GA. Someone please give me some insight on handling this matter.
Bernard