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
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
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.