Articles Posted in Nursing Home Neglect

With the future of Friendship Ridge Nursing Home in Beaver, PA in jeopardy, protesters gathered outside last week’s Beaver County commissioners’ meeting to try and convince the commissioners to keep the facility county-owned.

In December, county commissioners asked the union workers at the home to develop a plan to save $5 million from the nursing home’s budget to keep it from being sold to a private company. The union was able to come up with a plan, but according to county commissioners, an independent auditor says the amount that the union’s plan will save is much less.

According to an article on Pittsburgh.CBSLocal.com, one woman at the meeting expressed concern for her husband, who is a resident of Friendship Ridge, “My husband can’t speak, so I have to speak for him. I live in the neighborhood, I can go everyday by bus to see him. If you take it away I won’t be able to see him.”

On Fri., Feb. 1, the attorneys and staff of O’Connor Law donned red sweaters, shirts, and scarves in honor of National Wear Red Day to raise awareness of heart disease, the leading killer of women.

National Wear Red Day was started 10 years ago by the American Heart Association (AHA), as part of its annual Go Red for Women campaign. The AHA offers some startling statistics about women and heart disease:

• One woman dies from heart disease each minute.

The frigid cold weather that’s settled over our area caused water pipes to burst on Sunday at a Luzerne County care center, sending residents to a temporary shelter.

Almost sixty residents of Back Mountain Care Center in Dallas Township were moved to the Dallas Middle School when water pipes burst in one room, causing part of the structure’s roof to collapse.

According to WNEP.com, the Red Cross is assisting residents who will need transitional housing. The fire chief said it could take weeks to repair the damage inside the building.

On Friday evening, a fire broke out at the Willow Lake Retirement Residence in Willow Grove, Montgomery County, injuring one person.

According to an article on 6abc.com, firefighters were able to put out the blaze. The extent of the injuries is unknown. Reports say the fire was coming from one of the units in the building.

An investigation into the cause is ongoing.

This spring, ground breaking should begin on a $1.5 million addition to Providence Place of Pottsville, compliments of former Pennsylvania Gov. George M. Leader.

Leader was governor from 1955 to 1959. According to an article on the RepublicanHerald.com, he has worked for more than 50 years as a nursing home owner and operator.

The article explained that in 1975, his firm, Leader Nursing Care, built a facility in Pottsville that it operated until the mid 1990s. HCR ManorCare took over that home in 1997. In 1998, Leader became founder and CEO of Providence Place Retirement Community. He opened its first location in Pottsville in 1999. Providence Place Retirement Community has 3 other facilities in Hazleton, Chambersburg, and Dover.

If you take beta blockers to lower your blood pressure, they could also help to reduce your risk of demetia.

According to a new study released by the American Academy of Neurology, people taking beta blockers were less likely to have less cognitive impairment than those that did not. Beta blockers are a class of drug used to treat conditions such as high blood pressure, glaucoma, and migraines. Beta blockers cause the heart to beat slower to reduce blood pressure. They also open up blood vessels to increase blood flow.

An article on CNN.com explained that over 21 years, 774 Japanese-American men between the ages of 71 and 93 took part in the study. Of those, 610 had hypertension or were taking medication to treat high blood pressure. Of those treated, 15% took only beta blockers, 18% received a beta blocker and another blood pressure medicine, and the remaining men didn’t take any beta blocker.

The state Department of Public Welfare wants PA residents to know that crisis grants are available for those with heating emergencies.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) offers grants that can be used towards broken heating equipment, lack of fuel, or for those who may be in danger of running out of fuel. Applications began being accepted on Jan. 2 and should run through March 29.

According to an article on the RepublicanHerald.com, the program has two parts: a Crisis Exception Program that provides assistance if the heat source has been shut off or if a household’s supply has almost run out. The second part is the Regular Crisis Program, for residents who may face an emergency situation of losing heat.

If you had any doubt, be warned that flu season is in full swing. For the week ending Dec. 29, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 3,193 confirmed cases of the flu, nearly 1,000 more than the previous week. There were three flu-related deaths in PA that same week.

For those of us with normal immune systems, the flu can mean a few days of sickness and feeling uncomfortable. But for those with compromised immune systems, as well as children and the elderly, the flu can be much more serious.

To combat the flu, some nursing homes, like the Mason Villages in Elizabethtown, require that everyone — including employees and visitors — either have a flu shot or wear a face mask if they plan on getting close to any residents. According to an article on PennLive.com, it’s just one of the ways that they are trying to protect residents, along with requiring those who have had the flu not to enter the facility until they’ve been without a fever for at least 24 hours. Also, staff and residents are receiving preventive doses of Tamiflu, a medication that can minimize and possibly prevent the flu.

It was a sad Christmas holiday for a family in New York state whose elderly family member was found dead outside of the nursing home where he resided. And now the man’s family is demanding answers.

The man was found outside of the Saratoga County facility the Sunday before Christmas and later died from hypothermia.

The man’s family said that he lived on the second floor of the home. They said he was frail and could not have possibly gotten out of the window in his room, as it only opened about 6 inches. He was found with his walker near the door below the window. His family said he had no injuries that would indicate a fall.

Golden Living Nursing Homes must pay over $600,000 to settle allegations that two of their Atlanta, GA facilities provided subpar wound care services to residents.

According to a press release by the Atlanta Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Attorney General Sam Olens is quoted as saying “Golden Living fraudulently billed Medicaid for nursing services which were substandard and, tragically, resulted in harm to patients. The nursing home patients depended on Golden Living to provide them with quality wound care services to help them heal, but, instead, were mistreated. We will not stand for such egregious misconduct by a Medicaid provider.”

The government alleged that Golden Living submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Administration because it provided residents with inadequate and worthless monitoring, documents, and preventation and treatment of wounds from Jan., 1, 2006 to May 31, 2011.

As part of the settlement, six of the Atlanta-area Golden Living facillities will need to implement certain policies and procedures to ensure compliance with regulations governing patient care. Also, an independent monitor will oversee operations at the six Atlanta facililties for up to five years to make sure patients receive appropriate care.

The case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service; and the Georgia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

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