Minnesota Nursing Home Blamed for Resident's Choking Death
A recently-released Minnesota State Health Department report revealed new information about a questionable choking death in a Mahnomen nursing home. According to the report, 82-year-old Keith H. Johnson was a resident of the Mahnomen Health Center, when he was served a deadly meal of solid foods on Dec. 13, 2010. The decision to serve solid foods clearly violated Johnson’s doctor’s orders, which said he was only to eat pureed meals. Johnson, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, had a documented history of eating too fast and choking.Shortly after being served a sandwich, Johnson began to cough When two attempts at the...
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Registered Sex Offender Attacks Fellow Resident in Iowa Nursing Home
A registered sex offender living at an Iowa nursing home is now under extremely strict watch, after an eight-year-old girl witnessed him sexually assaulting a female resident. The attack took place on August 21 at the Pomeroy Care Center in Pomeroy. The girl, who was visiting relatives, says she witnessed 83-year-old William Cubbage standing over a woman’s bed with his hands between the woman’s legs. According to state Health Department records, the woman was consistently saying “No!” After the attack, the woman was in tears, and begged a staff member not to leave her alone. Cubbage has a history...
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Is It Time For Nursing Homes To Implement More Safety Measures To Protect Patients From Visitors?
Would you open your front door and simply welcome in any visitor? I don't know where you live-- but I surely wouldn't! However, many nursing homes pretty much have an 'open door' policy when it comes to granting visitors access to their facility. Sure some facilities have a check-in desk where visitors can sign in and get an official looking sticker to put on their lapel, but rarely is there much more of a screening system in place to restrict access to these facilities. While the overwhelming majority of visitors indeed have very sincere intentions for their visit,...
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Illinois Attorney General 'Cracks The Whip' At Violent Criminals Living Amongst Nursing Home Patients
Shesshh.... Don't let the violent offenders living amongst innocent nursing home patients in Illinois know that the Attorney General and local police agencies may soon be hunting them down! Seriously, as Illinois gets ready to introduce new nursing home safety bills, law enforcement facilities have announced a renewed push to track down unregistered felons, sex offenders and parole violators. Illinois' officials are really stepping up their focus on nursing home safety after a series of newspaper articles highlighted the how Illinois nursing homes house a significant number of young patients with psychiatric records --- including more than 3,000 with felony...
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Drugs, Criminals & Violence. Welcome To The 'Psychiatric Ghetto' Nursing Home
Blog reader Rebbecca Young recently commented on a recent post, Do Former Inmates Deserve To Be Living In Nursing Homes? "Deserve? So... what, once they've served their sentence and justice has been done they shouldn't have the same range of choices available to them as to any other citizen? Is being institutionalized supposed to be a privilege now? How about appropriate care in the least restrictive environment? We are after all talking about people who have done their time - prison inmates with ongoing care needs receive that care behind bars. You make a bad decision (or many), you get caught,...
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New Website Provides A One-Stop-Shop For Families In Need Of Assistance Selecting A Nursing Home
I'm all for any tools that can help families make important decisions relating to nursing home care. Too often I see families walking around with huge stacks of reports on nursing homes from various websites. Not only is the the cross-referencing of websites difficult, much of the information is not current. The best site I've come across was recently unveiled by the Chicago Tribune as an accompaniment to their article regarding convicted felons who now reside in Illinois Nursing Homes. The website compiles data from various on-line and off-line sources including: the Illinois Department of Public Health, Medicare, Chicago Police...
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Man Who Crashed Car Into St. Louis Nursing Home Had History Of Problems
Dennis Long's relatives confirmed that he was indeed the man who drove his car through the front entrance of St. Sophia Health and Rehabilitation Center in St. Louis, MO last Friday. Apparently Long drove his car into the facility out of anger. He was banned from visiting his mother who was an Alzheimer's patient at the facility due to his 'bizarre behavior' weeks earlier. St. Louis Circuit Court records reveal Long had a troubled past. In 2007, Long was similarly barred from visiting his mother while she was a resident at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. In the same year, court records...
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Nursing Homes For Alzheimer's Patients. What To Look For?
The following is a recent article I authored for the Senior Home Care Blog. Senior Home Care Blog is a valuable source of information for caregivers to people who suffer from Alzheimer's, stroke, MS and other brain impairing conditions. I highly reccommend this blog as a great resource to all home care providers and nursing home staff. At some point, most Alzheimer’s patients will spend time in a nursing home or assisted living facility. Whether, the stay is a temporary or permanent in nature, the special needs of Alzheimer’s patients must be recognized and evaluated before the person is placed...
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New Version Of Nursing Home Transparency Act
A new version of the Nursing Home Transparency Act and Quality Act of Care has been proposed in the House of Representatives by Pete Stark (D- CA) and Jan Schakowsky (D- IL). The new version of the legislation is a modification of an earlier bill proposed by Senator Herb Kohl (D- WI) and Charles Grassley (R- IA) earlier this year. The new version contains more stringent requirements for nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Specifically, the new bill contains additional provisions for quality assurance and improvement demonstration program. According to Representative Stark, "As the government pays for 60% of...
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Cocaine Kingpin Found In Florida Nursing Home
You never know who may turn up at your local nursing home...unfortunately. 68-year old, David 'Daddy Dave' Green was recently discovered as a resident at Florida nursing home. Mr. Green had been on the run for 8years following his escape from an Ohio jail. Mr. Green is not your ordinary nursing home resident, as he is currently listed as one of America's top 15 most wanted fugtives. Read more about this nototius nursing home resident here. Nursing home residents have a right to a safe and violence free environment. If a facility knew or should have known of a residents violent...
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