Nursing Homes Abuse Blog - By Jonathan Rosenfeld

One of the best websites around for accessing valuable information about your particular nursing home is Medicare's Nursing Home Compare site.  Quickly, you can access information about: the overall stared rating of the the facility, number of inspections, number of deficiencies, staffing levels and fire safety violations.  Moreover, you can importantly access information on specific facilities by geographic location.

Below, I've assembled information from the Medicare site regarding Alden Nursing Homes in the Chicagoland area.

Related Nursing Homes Abuse Blog Entries:

Man Falls From Fourth Floor Window To His Death At Alden Nursing Home

Even After Repeated Tragedies, Alden Wentworth Nursing Home Refuses To Hire Additional Staff To Assist Patients

Nursing Home Spotlight: Alden Town Manor

Illinois Nursing Homes Continue To Rack Up Fines In 3rd Quarter Of 2010

Alden Town Manor is a skilled nursing facility in Cicero, IL that was recently cited by the Illinois Department of Health following a March 30, 2010 survey at the facility. The focus of the survey was related to a March 6, 2010 incident in which a patient fell at the facility and subsequently died due to head trauma and cervical fractures.

An investigation into the incident revealed that Alden Town Manor failed to properly care for the patient in the following respects:

1. Assess a severely injured resident on the floor after a fall

2. Follow its own policy for residents with head injuries

3. Assess and develop interventions and re-evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions after a patient sustains a series of documented falls at the facility.

On March 6, 2010 staff responded to a loud noise in the room of an 83-year-old patient at the Alden Town Manor. When they arrived at the woman’s room they discovered the woman laying face-down on the floor, bleeding from an obvious cut on her head. When the staff arrived the woman was visibly injured but had a pulse.

Even though from the location of the wound and the profuse bleeding, a head injury was obvious, the staff at Alden Town Manor elected to move the injured patient from the floor to her bed without providing any stabilization for her neck.

A review of the patients hospital chart revealed that the woman sustained a fracture of the base of the Odentoid Process at C2. It is believed that the staff’s movement of the patient either caused or exacerbated the cervical fracture that contributed to her death.

In addition to violation of 'nursing care 101', Alden Town Manor staff violated their own policies and procedures for handling patients involved in a fall that specify staff are to complete a neurological assessment of each patient post-fall.

This incident is particularly disturbing in light of the fact that this patient had fallen at Alden two times prior and was further categorized as ‘high risk’ for falls according to her care plan.

As a result of the above occurrence, Alden Town Manor received a $30,000 fine from the Illinois Department of Health (IDPH).

If you have a loved one at Alden Town Manor and are concerned about the care they are receiving, we would honor the opportunity to speak with you. All consultations are confidential and our services are free if there is not a recovery for you.

Related:

Alden Town Manor Rehab & HCC, IDPH Survey, March 30, 2010 (PDF)

Falls In Nursing Homes Are A Serious Threat To The Safety Of Many Patients

Blacks Receive Inferior Care At Most Nursing Homes

Alden Village North Charged With Neglect After Child Dies Due To Inadequate Nursing Care

Even After Repeated Tragedies, Alden Wentworth Nursing Home Refuses To Hire Additional Staff To Assist Patients

Nursing Home Abuse: The Deaths Of 13 Children Linked To Poor Care At Chicago Nursing Home Child Injury Law Blog, October 15, 2010

On May 4, 2009, Bennie Saxon, a veteran suffering from dementia who was a resident at the Alden Wentworth Rehabilitation and Health Care Center fell four stories to his death.  The Alden facility is a large 300 bed, predominately black nursing home facility located in Chicago’s South Side. 

According to the government’s Medicare website, the facility received only two out of five stars, which is a below average rating, receiving only one out of five stars for health inspections and one out of five stars for nursing home staffing.  In the past year, the nursing home had 23 health deficiencies, which is fifteen more than the average number of health deficiencies in Illinois and in the United States.  The number of health deficiencies is more than the health deficiencies in the past two years.   

Alden Wentworth received only one out of five stars for its nursing home staffing, which is a much below average rating.  The nursing home provides less licensed nurse staff hours per resident per day (42 minutes) than both the national average (1 hour 24 minutes) and the Illinois average (1 hour 12 minutes).  The facility also provides less resident  nurse hours per resident per day (16 minutes) than both the national and Illinois averages (36 minutes).  The facility also offers less licensed practical nurse/licensed vocational nurse hours per resident per day (26 minutes) than the national average (48 minutes) and the Illinois average (36 minutes).  The number of certified nurse aid hours per resident per day at Alden Wentworth (1 hour 20 minutes) is also less than the national average (2 hours 18 minutes) and the Illinois average (2 hours). 

The Chicago Reporter conducted an investigation of the facility following Mr. Saxon’s death, and Chicago Now ran an update about the protests and meeting that occurred in response.  The Alden Wentworth facility is owned by Floyd A. Schlossberg, who is one of Illinois’ largest owners of nursing homes, with ownership in twenty-nine homes.  The Chicago Reporter reported that the Alden Wentworth facility provides residents with less than half of the time each day with staff than residents at a predominantly white facility in Evanston that is also owned by Mr. Schlossberg. 

Following Mr. Saxon’s fall, the Senior Action Network staged two protests at the Alden facility.  At the first protest, a Alden Wentworth employee threw a letter requesting a meeting with Mr. Schlossberg in the trash.  At the second protest, Senator Jacqueline Collins, Representative Andre Thapedi, and Alderman Freddrenna Lyle were in attendance and also received rude treatment from the facility.

Then, on July 24, 2009, the three elected officials mentioned above and leaders from the Illinois Department of Public Health met with a representative from the Alden facility.  The Alden representative reported that changes had been made at the facility: a new administrator had been brought to the facility and staff assignments on the dementia floor were changed.   However, the facility did not agree to hire additional staff. 

Regarding a separate incident, the Illinois Department of Public Health conducted a complaint investigation of the Alden Wentworth facility on April 2, 2009. 

The report revealed that the facility failed to provide the necessary care and services to attain or maintain the highest possible physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of its residents.  A resident who had a change in their breathing status was not evaluated by a physician in a timely manner, resulting in the resident being admitted to the hospital with Dyspnea (shortness of breath).  The resident was suffering from a cold, temperature, and congestion.  The doctor was not properly notified of the resident’s condition, which accounted for the delay in proper treatment.  The facility’s response reported that nursing staff was alerted as to the proper procedure for what to do if the attending physician does not respond.  The resident involved in the incident subsequently died.

Sources:

Chicago Now – The Background on Alden Nursing Home Meeting

The Chicago Reporter - Disparate Nursing Home Care

Medicare Website – Alden Wentworth Rehabilitation and Health Care Center

Illinois Department of Public Health – Alden Wentworth Rehab & HCC

Alden Wentworth Rehabilitation and Health Care Center

Mayo Clinic - Dementia

The Chicago Sun Times reported on the death of 84-year-old, Benny Saxon.  Saxon was a resident at Alden Wentworth Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Chicago, Illinois when he either jumped or fell to his death from the fourth floor.  The Cook County Medical Examiner's office pronounced Saxon dead shortly after the incident.

Chicago Police are investigating the incident, but early reports indicate that the man suffered from dementia and showed signs of being agitated shortly before his death.  Currently, the death is being evaluated a suicide.

A dementia unit on the fourth floor?  

If the reports of this man being housed on the fourth floor prove to be true, this facility should not only be ashamed of exposing dementia resident to such harm, but the facility may also expose themselves in a liability context.  Nursing home residents suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's should always be housed on a ground floor to minimize the risk of residents harming themselves.  

About Alden 

Alden has been involved in the nursing home industry since the 1970's.  There are 38 Alden facilities in the Chicagoland area, Rockford and Wisconsin.  The facilities are intended to care for individuals who require varying degrees of assistance.  Alden nursing facilities include:

• 21 rehabilitation and health care centers
• 7 independent senior living facilities
• 5 special needs facilities
• 3 assisted living facilities
• 2 Alzheimer's residential centers

Related Nursing Homes Abuse Blog Posts

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Nursing Homes For Alzheimer's Patients. What To Look For?