CLOSING Ohio nursing home to close, leave 72 residents homeless
May 19, 2012
WBNS-TV, Columbus,OH, reports: “Residents Friday said that they were concerned that a Muskingum County-run nursing facility was planning to shut its doors.” Read More…>>
“Muskingum County Home, located at 3125 East Pike, will shut down in two months, according to county commissioners.”
CAREGIVERS Practitioner makes perfect sense for nursing home
May 19, 2012
The Springfield (IL) State Journal-Register says: “More common in other parts of the country, including the East and West coasts, having nurse practitioners on staff still is relatively rare in the Midwest.” Read More…>>
“Generally, nurse practitioners can make diagnoses, prescribe drugs, perform non-surgical procedures and write orders.”
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VOLUNTEERISM Miniature horse is a star at Florida nursing homes
May 19, 2012
The Tampa Bay (FL) Times reports: “At a skilled nursing facility called Westchester Gardens, 63-year-old Mary Clemens was taking a morning stroll with her walker when a pint-sized black horse passed her in the hallway.” Read More…>>
“Star [the horse] is a new volunteer with Project PUP (Pets Uplifting People), a nonprofit group that’s been arranging for pet therapy visits at health care centers throughout Tampa Bay since 1984.”
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UNIONS New York nursing home workers protest cut hours
May 19, 2012
The Bayside Patch reports: “A group of unioned nursing home workers rallied outside of Ozanam Hall on Friday morning to protest a cut in working hours proposed by the administrators.” Read More…>>
“”Even though I am working harder and doing my best to help the residents, the staffing cuts are not allowing me to give the residents the same amount of attention I would like to receive myself if I were in their situation.”
INVESTIGATION Jury says man died due to Colorado nursing home’s negligence; state differs
May 18, 2012
The Denver Post reports: “Henry Frazier left a Rocky Ford nursing home with a fist-size necrotic abscess from a bedsore — and died in hospice.” Read More…>>
“A jury awarded the family $3.2 million for negligence… and yet the state’s review of the case produced no citation, no penalty and no consequence for Frazier’s wound or death.”
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VOLUNTEERISM New York volunteers connect with residents through knitting
May 18, 2012
The Watertown (NY) Daily Times says: “Equipped with knitting needles, crochet hooks and sewing supplies, a new outreach program is connecting community volunteers with senior citizens at area nursing homes.” Read More…>>
“Some elderly people may be hesitant to try a new hobby, but learning new skills is a positive way to keep them engaged in learning.”
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CRIME Maryland assisted living facility robbed by armed suspect
May 18, 2012
WBOC, Salisbury, MD, reports: “Maryland State Police are looking for an armed suspect who robbed prescription drugs from an assisted living facility in Queen Anne’s County.” Read More…>>
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HEALTH Hepatitis B found in four Virginia assisted living betwen 2009-2011
May 18, 2012
UPI reports: “Virginia health officials said hepatitis B virus infections occurred in four assisted living facilities from February 2009 to November 2011.” Read More…>>
CRIME Florida nursing home aide accused of hitting 89-year-old resident with dementia
May 17, 2012
The Tampa Bay (FL) Times reports: ” A 44-year-old nursing home employee is accused of striking an 89-year-old resident who suffers from dementia on Wednesday.” Read More…>>
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COURTS Will adult children have to pay parent’s nursing home costs?
May 17, 2012
According to Forbes: “A Pennsylvania state appeals court has ruled that the adult son of a nursing home resident is responsible for her unpaid $93,000 bill. And the decision has some elder care lawyers wondering if this is just the beginning of a trend.” Read More…>>
“The Pennsylvania case involved a woman who spent six months in a nursing facility recovering from an auto accident.”
TECHNOLOGY FCC to allocate spectrum for wireless medical monitoring
May 17, 2012
CNN reports: “The Federal Communications Commission says it plans to allocate spectrum bandwidth for use of body sensors that would monitor a patient’s vital signs wirelessly.” Read More…>>
“Using the newly allocated spectrum bandwidth, the sensors on a patient’s body would wirelessly form a network, aggregate the results and transmit that data to centralized computer systems.”
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CRIME South Carolina woman admits to taking $440,000 from nursing home
May 17, 2012
WLTX-TV, Columbia, SC, reports: “A Newberry County woman had pleaded guilty to taking over $440,000 from a nursing home over a four-year period.” Read More…>>
“Tina Clinton of Newberry entered a plea in federal court to one count of embezzlement and five counts of filing false tax returns.”
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CRIME RehabCare Group accused of paying kickbacks
May 17, 2012
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says: “The U.S. Justice Department has accused RehabCare Group Inc. of paying more than $10 million in kickbacks to gain access to Medicare and Medicaid patients in Missouri nursing homes.” Read More…>>
“According to a civil lawsuit transferred last week to U.S. District Court in St. Louis, Clayton-based RehabCare began making payments in 2006 to induce a Missouri nursing home chain to grant RehabCare a contract to provide therapy services.”
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VOLUNTEERISM Pay it forward: Bringing music to nursing homes
May 17, 2012
USC-Annenberg says: “Volunteer musicians come together to perform only for the sick, lonely, and elderly patients in nursing homes. They call themselves the Pay it Forward Band.” Read More…>>
“The group is comprised over 100 musicians of all ages who all have the desire to give back to their community.
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BUDGET Cuts could hurt Illinois nursing home workers
May 17, 2012
The Southern Illinoisan reports: “If proposed Medicaid cuts become a reality, more than 10 percent of the state’s nursing home employees could be out of work, the head of a state nursing home organization said Wednesday.” Read More…>>
“Pat Comstock, executive director of Health Care Council of Illinois, said a further reduction in the Medicaid rate Illinois pays to health care providers could be a crippling blow to nursing homes, and could result in the loss of 13,000 jobs.”
RESIDENTS Veteran’s remains found in Florida nursing home will have proper burial
May 17, 2012
The Jacksonville Florida Times-Union reports: “The cremated remains of Clarence Harrison Hill Jr. were found in a closet.” Read More…>>
“Two national nonprofits stepped in to secure interment with full honors.”
WATCH LIST Michigan nursing home ‘has improved’
May 17, 2012
WOOD-TV, Kalamazoo, MI, reports: “A Kalamazoo nursing home listed on a federal watch list of poor nursing homes has improved.” Read More…>>
“Borgess Gardens in Kalamazoo landed on the Special Focus Facilities List in 2011 after several incidents.”
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CRIME Minnesota nursing home LPNs diverted painkillers, state says
May 16, 2012
The Pioneer Press reports: “The Minnesota Department of Health is reporting two cases of licensed practical nurses diverting narcotic pain medications for their own use from nursing home residents.” Read More…>>
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COURTS Federal court sides with nurse who taped employer
May 16, 2012
Courthouse News Service reports: “A federal judge struck down a counterclaim filed by a Pennsylvania nursing home against a former employee it said illegally wiretapped a grievance meeting following her termination.” Read More…>>
RESIDENTS More senior living centers in U.S. allow more pets
May 16, 2012
The San Francisco Chronicle reports: “Shirlee and Nathan Horowitz faced one serious health crisis after another before their doctor said they had to move into an assisted living center. They had only one condition – they weren’t going anywhere without their dog.” Read More…>>
“Hundreds of retirement communities across the country now allow seniors to live with their pets and more and more keep house pets that provide the benefits without the responsibility.”
CAREGIVERS Will proposed pay regulations help home care aides?
May 16, 2012
BrainTrack reports: “Employers may soon be required to pay home care aides minimum wage and to compensate them with time-and-a-half pay for overtime work.” Read More…>>
“Home health aides and personal care aides are projected to be the two fastest growing occupations this decade.”
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OVERSIGHT Kentucky reports 531 deficiencies in nursing homes inspected in first quarter
May 16, 2012
The Lane Report says: “State inspectors reported finding 531 deficiencies in 80 nursing homes they inspected in Kentucky in the first quarter of this year.” Read More…>>
“This latest report on the inspection of nursing homes in the state was obtained through an Open Records Request by Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, a statewide advocacy organization.”
RESIDENTS Police locked out of Connecticut nursing facility
May 16, 2012
The Daily Stamford (CT) says: “Stamford police and paramedics were locked out of a nursing home in the city Monday night until they agreed to take one of its patients to the hospital, police said.” Read More…>>
CRIME Employee accused of assaulting North Carolina nursing home resident
May 16, 2012
The Gaston (NC) Gazette says: “A man employed at a Gastonia nursing home has been accused of inappropriately touching one of the facility’s residents.” Read More…>>
“According to the incident report, a Brian Center nurse sexually assaulted a 54-year-old woman on Sunday at 1:42 a.m.”
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LEGISLATION Holding Vermont nursing home owners accountable
May 16, 2012
WCAX, Burlington, VT, reports: “Glori Law and Susan Petrie’s father was living in a nursing home just 10 days when they learned he was being attacked by another resident who was mentally unstable.” Read More…>>
“With the stroke of Governor Peter Shumlin’s pen, H.413 became law. The measure creates civil action against those who are abused, neglected, or exploited.”
Updates on current criminal cases involving nursing homes, plus an archive of nursing home crime stories. 