The Importance of choosing the correct nursing home

A Cuyahoga County grand jury is expected to hear the case of an 84-year-old woman who died on Christmas eve at The Avenue at Warrensville Care and Rehabilitation Center Nursing Home in Warrensville Heights. Amber Henderson, 31, of Willoughby Hills, was charged in Bedford Municipal Court with involuntary manslaughter, gross neglect of a patient, and tampering with records in the death of Alvera Meuti. Her case was bound over Thursday, to a county grand jury.

This tragic case that we have been following at The Dickson Firm, makes it very clear how important it is to pick the right nursing home for your loved one. It is imperative that you do as much research as possible in selecting the correct nursing home.

Go to the web site:

https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/?redirect=true&providerType=NursingHome

This is a great resource. Through this website, you can learn the star rating of the nursing home. All nursing homes are rated by Medicare on a 5-star system. There is an Overall Rating. There are also ratings for “Health Insopections”, “Staffing”, and “Quality Measures”.

On this website, you can also see if a nursing home has received penalties for poor care. You can also see the size of a nursing home, and find out if it is a for-profit or a not-for-profit nursing home.

You can sort nursing homes by address so you can review all of the nursing homes near you.

It's also very important that you visit the nursing home before you admit your loved one to that nursing home. You can learn a great deal by being physically present in the nursing home. Make sure you get past the lobby. Make sure you tour the facility. Make sure you see the rooms. You don't need an appointment. Nursing homes are open to the public. You can walk in and walk around. If the nursing home stops you or does not let you walk around, that should be a red flag.

Many nursing homes have popcorn machines in the lobby. You might think to yourself, “Oh, what a nice thing to have, fresh hot popcorn.” However, the reason for the popcorn machine is insidious. Nursing homes have learned that the smell of popcorn is very strong, and it can often mask the smell of urine and feces from a nursing home that's not being managed properly. This is one of the important reasons to walk around the nursing home. You want to walk around the nursing home. You want to smell the nursing home. You want to listen to the sounds of nursing home.

Do you see a lot of staff? Do you see nurses and aids on the floor helping the residents. Are they in their rooms? Does the nursing home smell nice? Do you smell feces and urine? Does it seem dirty? Does the nursing home seem clean to you? Do you see garbage in the hallways or on the floors. Do the rooms seem clean?

If you do go to visit a potential nursing home, and you are stopped, ask to see the Administrator. Tell him or her that you would like a tour because you are thinking about placing your loved one at that nursing home. Make sure they show you the rooms. Make sure they show you the different wings. Make sure they explain to you what the criteria is for your loved one to be in different areas of the nursing home.

Also, make sure that you and your family are honest with yourselves about the needs of your loved one. Very often, we see families who are in a bit of denial about the declining condition of their loved one. They don't want to believe that their mother or father is declining as they get older. However, the reality is that many elderly people, begin to suffer challenges that make it necessary for them to be placed in a nursing home. Often their mental faculties diminish. Sometimes they suffer with Alzheimers or dementia, and they need care. If your loved one has mental challenges then you need to make sure that the nursing home is set up to keep them safe. What is their system for keeping your loved one from leaving the nursing home unattended.

The tragic case of Alvera Meuti, at The Avenue Nursing Home, involves a situation where Ms. Meuti was allowed to elope out of the nursing home unattended. She walked out the front door and sat down on the patio. Sadly, her mental faculties were such that she was not able to perceive the danger of being outside in inclement weather. And tragically, she froze to death. This is a horribly sad case, and a glaring example of how important it is to choose the right nursing home.

If your loved one is already in a nursing home, and you have concerns about the care, you have to think strongly about moving your loved one to a different nursing home. We at The Dickson Firm, absolutely realize that moving your loved one can be very challenging, particularly if you're not in town. We have lots of clients where their loved one is in a nursing home here in Ohio, and the nursing home resident's relatives don't live in Ohio. It can very challenging to move your loved one to a safer nursing home. It can also be very disruptive for loved one, particularly if they have dementia or other challenges. Familiarity is a positive for these individuals.

However, their safety must be your paramount concern. You can't leave them in an unsafe nursing home because it would be challenging to move them to a safer nursing home.

If your loved one cannot be outside safely on their own, then you need to understand the system that's in place at the nursing home where your loved one is a resident, to keep them from leaving the nursing home unattended.

If your loved one cannot walk safely on their own, then you need to know the system that the nursing home has in place to keep them safe. Nursing homes are legally obligated to provide their residents with a safe environment, and with adequate supervision to prevent accidents. What system does the nursing home have in place to keep your loved one from walking unattended? As we have reported in other articles on this blog, falls for nursing home residents can be incredibly dangerous and lead to serious, and in many cases, fatal injuries. You must not allow your loved one to suffer a fatal fall.

If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at 1-800-OHIO LAW, as we would be happy to talk with you and help you in any way that we can.