This post first appeared in the open thread for 12/26/2007 but I thought it was worth re-posting.
The primary goal of the County Board as far as the County Nursing Home is concerned should be to provide the highest level of care to those most in need of that care. However, as you can see by the list of complaints against the Champaign County Nursing home that I have included below , the current care is severely lacking. Ralph Langenheim stated that the lack of action on the topic of the nursing home is because of the need for a majority on the board and that problem is the "essence of the democratic process". He is correct that a majority is required and that is typical of the democratic process. However, that is precisely why no government body has any business running any type of medical facility. While the board is talking and negotiating their way to a majority the people requiring care are being neglected and are suffering. I would urge the board to realize that the natural inefficiencies of government are hurting the very people they are seeking to help and move to the logical conclusion that privatizing the Champaign County Nursing Home will provide the best care to the people in need and the best value to the community.
DATE COMPLAINT VIOLATIONS: CONFIRMED
07/07/2004 - Protect each resident from all abuse, physical punishment, and being separated from others.
07/07/2004 - 1) Hire only people who have no legal history of abusing, neglecting or mistreating residents; or 2) report and investigate any acts or reports of abuse, neglect or mistreatment of residents.
01/17/2006 - Make sure that the nursing home area is free of dangers that cause accidents.
04/04/2006 - Provide services to meet the needs and preferences of each resident.
04/26/2006 - Make sure that the nursing home area is free of dangers that cause accidents.
06/01/2006 - 1) Hire only people who have no legal history of abusing, neglecting or mistreating residents; or 2) report and investigate any acts or reports of abuse, neglect or mistreatment of residents.
11/08/2006 - Have a program to keep infection from spreading.
01/05/2007 - Make sure that residents who cannot care for themselves receive help with eating/drinking, grooming and hygiene.
01/05/2007 - Give residents proper treatment to prevent new bed (pressure) sores or heal existing bed sores.
02/07/2007 - Make sure that the nursing home area is free of dangers that cause accidents.
04/30/2007 - Make sure that residents are safe from serious medication errors.
04/30/2007 - Provide food in a way that meets a resident's needs.
These complaints where gathered from http://www.memberofthefamily.net/uscompl/il.htm#145571
Promoted to the front page for discussion.
Hmmm, why discuss ONLY the Champaign County Nursing Home? True, it can do better, but it comes closer than some others.
Carle Arbors: National Watch List
Helia Healthcare: National Watch List (both Champaign and Urbana locations)
The fact is that the county nursing home is the only one which is subject to wide public review and input. Sure, you can take your mom or dad out of one the others and move them somewhere else if you object to the level of care, but they may face the same or worse conditions. If nothing else, the county nursing home is one where we all have a say in the standard of care offered. I'd like to think that we as a society care enough to make that happen. Instead, some people care only whether it makes a profit or not and how to cut its budget further. That's a recipe for disaster.
In fact, the best nursing home in the county is Clark-Lindsey, which is well-financed. You get what you pay for. Too bad there are those who'd prefer to drag the county nursing home into a bathtub and drown it, just like they hope to do with most of the rest of government.
This is because it is government owned and operated,,,that is the reason we are discussing the county,,,you are right the rest need looking at also but for our purposes. let stick to the home in question. Are you an apologist for the county? Friend of Mr. Buffenbarger,? county board member? or concerned citizen? :)
Usually, I don't comment about the nursing home, but I was an employee there for almost sixteen years. It is totally unfair to put these complaints in a post out of context. I think that one needs to also look at the IDPH license renewal packet that is public record for a look at each year's review and see how few violations occured in a facility of this size. I know for a fact that the residents are well-cared for by a staff that takes their jobs seriously from the nursing staff to the dietary to the housekeeping to the laundry to the maintenance to activities to social work to administration. The staff respect and treat the residents like their own family. The nurses are knowledgeable in geriatric care. I was the childcare director and worked closely with other nursing home staff and witnessed the care and respect shown to the residents. I am so proud of the new facility that our county's residents live in. Even though it was a rough road in the making, the final product is one to be proud of. It is much more spacious, has a reliable HVAC system, and is beautiful. All the things that were promised to increase the quality of life for the residents. Granted, it cannot continue to be a drain on the County's financial budget, but I think some of the changes that have been put into place need to be given a chance to work. If the County Board feels like an Advisory Board would be helpful, then fine. Try it and see. This County Board has been given the challenge of overseeing our nursing home for over 100 years now. I feel that the current members need to continue to uphold that duty and they are quite capable of doing so. Communicating between the nursing home administration and the County Board members will achieve the results that will make the nursing home the facility our citizens expect it to be. I would encourage those who have not visited the new building to volunteer or visit residents at the nursing home to see for yourselves what a fine facility it is and how the residents love it!
Why only discuss the Champaign County Nursing Home? That is a fair question. I singled it out because it is a county institution for which our elected representatives and by extension every citizen of Champaign County is responsible for. You mentioned that the county nursing home could do better but that it is better than some others, as if to say that the extremely poor performance of other nursing homes excuses the very poor performance of the county nursing home. You said “If nothing else, the county nursing home is one where we all have a say in the standard of care offered.” It is true that we do have a say in the standard of care offered in the Champaign County Nursing Home. However, we as citizens have a say in the care provided in all nursing homes through our elected representatives and the various agencies that regulate these institutions. The main issue I have with the Champaign County Nursing Home is that the inherent inefficiencies of government are having a negative impact on the level of care that it provides. I maintain my belief that privatizing the county nursing home would bring much more value to the community and a much higher level of care to the people who need it and as I said before the level of care provided should be our primary concern.
As for Karen’s comments I have uploaded documents detailing some of these complaints to http://www.davidcearlock.com/champaign/ and I think they speak for themselves.
You should also see the below link.
http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/press03/champaign.htm
But it's not making a profit so it must be closed. (sorry, RSW, that's your line).
Actually, anon, I would be opposed to the county nursing home whether it was making a profit or not. It just makes it much easier to argue against it when it bleeds so much red ink.
And, I don't want it closed, I want it sold.
(Dang, I must not be doing a very good job at getting my point across.)
Complaints against the county nursing home have been investigated by Illinois Department of Public Health before the 2004 date listed above. In fact some investigations and fines were kept quiet during the bond referendum hype to voters. Many "closed door meetings" took care of that.
Any easy search on the IDPH archives will turn these up.
But as Anon 3:48 stated there are other nursing homes that have to be watched.
good post karen
The bottom line is the VOTERS chose to keep the county in the nursing home business, whether we all like it or not. It won almost 60% of the vote in 2002. The Democrats share primary responsibility since it was their campaign platform for 2002 that kept them in power. Now they are running away from that responsibility. But the voters are getting what they voted into office.
They need to get RID of the Administrator!
He is a liar! He is shifty! at the moment he's trying to railroad the food service Director, blaming her for the facility being over budget (When in FACT it's the THOUSANDS of dollars spent on Agency Nursing) beacuse the Management can't keep staff! The Nursing Director, Assist Director will NOT stay over to help, they will NOT come in on weekends or days off! (what's a Manager for?) You can train a monkey to pick up a phone and dial an agency!
They have CUT the food for Residents! there are times they don't even have bread! no fresh fruit! Most people are all about saving money, but NOT at the expense of the Residents!
The Food service Director has been there for over 3 years, she JUST recieved her FIRST evaluation, guess what...It wasn't good! She getting the blame for all the money being spent! (well, at least it's on the Residents)
This Tracy (Assist Administrator) whom has NO experience (she came from Activities) is NOW trying to run the kitchen! How did she qualify for her position????
Mark my words...Andrew will very soon be terminating the food service Director, he has made his plan CLEAR...
The Board needs to look into HIS position, he can NOT be trusted, he was going to JUMP SHIP to join a Management team he wanted to hire, WHAT DOES HE THINK HE IS?
HE IS THE MANAGEMENT TEAM!!! the home has that kind of money??? TWO teams!! Get RID OF HIM!!!
The Health Facilities Planning Board that suggested the fine against Champaign County is the same HFPB that is Blago's pals (now indicted) were appointed to. Blago's guys were accused of shaking down a whole range of folks to get campaign contributions and to generate business for their lawyer buddies. Anything that comes from this group of people needs to be looked at very carefully. This would not be the first time that Blago has rewarded law firms with litigation work just because they were contributors to his campaign.
John, did you read the list of violations in the nursing home? These are more important that being fined for some late paper work,,,
http://memberofthefamily.net/registry/il.htm
State Average violations by date: 6
Total Confirmed violations by survey date: 6
Looks the the facility is an average run facility strictly looking at violations, after a bad year in 2006 (more than 2x the average violations).
Note 1: This is helpful site. This would be a great idea for the local health department to do something similar locally so what we can analyze health inspection scores.
Note 2: Nowhere on the champaign county nursing home site is there a mechanism to lodge a complaint or an explanation on how to submit one.
Note 3: Nowhere on the website any type of detail relating to quality. There is a mission statement written at 10,000 feet (high-level). Maybe before we have to create yet another board and watch more meetings, we can hold people accountable for their job that they are currently getting paid to do. It is possible they are doing a great job right now, but how can I find out other than taking someone's word for it who works there.
This post was related to quality of care that us taxpayers are paying for. Based on statistics provided by a third party, it appears the quality of care is average. I'm sure the managers are very concerned that there are repeated offenses. I'm sure any manager can articulate how they are measuring quality and how they are committed to improving quality and addressing complaints. If anyone comes across this information, please share. It would be great to see those who work there demonstrate that the quality of their work is high quality and make the taxpayers feel more confident in this extensive investment.
If I'm wrong and we need to establish another political board to start the process to determine how to answer these questions, then I'm with RSWB.
Note: I was talking about the county nursing home website in note 3. Sorry.
B is for Business - I would like to draw your attention to the below link. Also, it isn't the number of complaints that concerns me but the type. If you look at the complaints that I uploaded to http://www.davidcearlock.com/champaign/ you will notice that one is for forgetting to feed patients and another is for mismanaging a patient's medication. This facility has a history of mismanaging medication which as you will see from the link below has already contributed to or possibly out right caused the death of one patient already. So, as you can see looking at only the number of complaints and not the complaints themselves can be misleading.
http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/press03/champaign.htm
This is an interesting link. From what I've read, I would be extremely reluctant to place the care of my loved ones in the care of the champaign nursing home. I'm sure there are two sides to the argument. My question still stands...I would like to hear from management how they measure quality of service and quickly be able to understand their commitment to quality.
Side note : I wonder why anyone would think it's acceptable to co-mingle personal funds with the county operational fund. It sounds like we need an experienced auditor to implement some common sense financial controls. : )
Interesting ... looks like Helia's had problems in other places too.
http://www.sj-r.com/News/stories/22914.asp
I TOLD YOU!!!
Today that WEASEL (Nursing Home Administrator) FIRED the Food Service Director!!!
I TOLD YOU ALL THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!!! What a SHAME!!! He used her as the sacraficial lamb!! It's NOT her fault he can't keep with in a budget!
What a LOSER!! I can't WAIT to hear the news that he has been walked to the door!! HE has RECKLESSLEY ran this Nursing home into debt for MONTHS!!!
He is UNABLE to recognize that the shortage of staff is a Mangement issue, NOT THE RESIDENTS FOOD!!!!
The Director of Dietary did a GREAT JOB for YEARS!!! This just makes me SICK!! he is a LIAR, a COWARD! and a FOOL!!
Your silly one-sided union-supportive rantings have absolutely zero credibility. Pathetic.
Posting in one thread is enough.
I'll take you more seriously if you used fewer CAPS and exclamation points. Presentation matters.
It's called PASSION!
I'm just trying to call attention to the subject...
If you want to call attention to it, register and post it as a blog entry.
Preferably without the CAPS and exclamation points.
You should be able to make your point without screaming -- of which all caps is the blog equivalent
What's pathetic is the administrator who wants to hire a managemnt team to do the job that he's paid to do!
I'm sorry..if you knew this person like I do, you would scream too! she was treated very unfairly by a man that has no business running this nursing home...