St. Francis NSG & Rehab Center is a larger 124 bed facility located in Evanston, IL a city just north of Chicago.  According to the government’s Medicare website, the facility received three out of five stars, which is an average rating.  In the past year, the nursing home had only three health deficiencies, which is five less than the average number of health deficiencies in Illinois and in the United States. 

Each nursing home resident is entitled to receive the care and services necessary to maintain the highest quality of life possible.  One survey noted that the facility failed to meet this requirement when it did not provide necessary care for a resident with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. 

On several dates, the staff did not give the resident the required insulin which resulted in high blood sugar (hyperglycemia).  If blood sugar levels get high enough, a patient can develop diabetic ketoacidosis, where the body breaks down fat for energy which produces toxic acids (ketones).  If left untreated, it can be a life-threatening condition. 

In order to properly care for its residents, the nursing home is required to conduct a comprehensive and accurate assessment of each resident’s functional capacity, which must be updated periodically.  The facility failed to have comprehensive assessments for two residents and failed to have accurate fall precaution assessments for four residents in the sample. 

The facility is required to maintain a professional standard of care and services for all residents.  This did not occur when the staff failed to follow the doctor’s order for a pressure sore and failed to properly document dressing changes. 

The facility is obligated to prevent pressure sores and to treat existing pressure sores to prevent infection and promote healing.  Pressure sores can be a very serious problem for nursing home residents who have limited mobility or are on prolonged bed rest.  If not treated properly, pressure sores can worsen and affect more tissue, making treatment more difficult. 

A patient suffering from Parkinson’s had a stage 4 pressure sore that was contaminated with urine and feces because no treatment dressing had been applied.  The patient’s care plan required that the pressure sore be cleaned and a treatment dressing changed every two days.  Another patient was also seen without proper treatment dressing on pressure sores. 

The nursing home has an obligation to give proper treatment to residents with feeding tubes to prevent problems.  During one survey, one resident with a feeding tube was not being fed at the rate prescribed by the doctor, and another patient received more fluids than ordered by his physician. 

St. Francis Nursing Home received an average rating and has less health deficiencies than many facilities in the state, a closer inspection of the facility reals that serious problems can still occur even at facilities with a seemingly well respected record.

St. Francis Nursing Home is part of Resurrection Health Care.  Resurrection operates seven nursing homes in the Chicago area.