The Reason Why Traditional Nursing Homes Suck

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But it is so hard being subjected to all the bullshit at the hands of the very demented, or the very mean. I have to babysit them as the CNAS work, so no one will fall. I have no effective meds to give to calm them. I can give Trazodone 25 mg q4 hrs, if I'm lucky. It does little to calm or quiet most pts. Where can I go to make as much money? The whole thing has turned into a big pile of shit.

I wish I cold find a nice job working with plants, sigh. Post a new comment Error. We will log you in after post We will log you in after post We will log you in after post We will log you in after post We will log you in after post Anonymously. Post a new comment. Post a new comment 16 comments. Metro Gold Line and an eclectic stretch of brick storefronts with hunter-green awnings and colorful outdoor cafe tables.

Cargill scribbled her initials on the sign-out sheet at South Pasadena Convalescent Hospital and declared her destination: Instead, Cargill — a year-old resident known by nursing home staff to be suicidal and delusional — walked unsupervised to a nearby service station and bought a plastic jug and gallon of gas, state documents show. A tall, muscular woman with short brown hair, she walked a quarter-mile to a second service station where, at 8: No one covers what is happening in our community better than we do. And with a digital subscription, you'll never miss a local story.

Cargill died at a Los Angeles hospital less than 24 hours later, with second- and third-degree burns over 90 percent of her body. At the top of the chain: Shlomo Rechnitz, a year-old Los Angeles entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Since , Rechnitz and his primary company, Brius Healthcare Services, have acquired 81 nursing homes up and down the state, many of them through bankruptcy court. His chain has grown so quickly that he now controls about 1 in every 14 nursing home beds in California, giving him an outsized influence on quality of care in the state.

In the past year, multiple alarms have been raised about this relative newcomer to the industry and the care provided in some of his homes. His facilities have become the target of police scrutiny, lawsuits, stiff regulatory fines and state and federal investigations that have uncovered numerous alleged violations. The punishment strips a nursing home of its crucial Medicare funding until it can demonstrate improvement, or is closed or sold.

Since , the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has decertified only six out of more than 1, nursing homes in California. With Brius, though, that appears to be changing. Rechnitz agrees that his nursing home operation has been under siege, but he offers an alternative viewpoint. He says problems with regulators began after his management company became embroiled in a legal dispute with the state over delinquent paperwork, and the relationship soured. It questions if we would pass the good character requirement … It basically makes us look like the Charles Manson of the nursing home business.

The state acted again a month later, refusing to grant Rechnitz the license in Chico.

The denial was unusual. The California Department of Public Health has rejected only four change-of-ownership applications since , including Chico, according to a department spokesman. Rechnitz explained that his business model is to rescue failing facilities and turn them around. Officials in San Mateo County, for instance, credit Rechnitz with preserving nearly needed beds and dozens of jobs when he took over management of the Burlingame Long Term Care facility in The bed facility, one of 13 nursing homes in Butte County, sits off Highway 99 behind a hospital complex with buildings trimmed in Army green.

On one recent afternoon, litter spilled into the nursing home parking area, which backs up against a weedy vacant lot. By the end of , though, the Gridley facility was backsliding in the ratings and had fallen to two stars, then, finally, to one star by mid Federal inspectors made their own visit to Gridley in September to investigate a complaint, which resulted in two more calls of immediate jeopardy.

The facility was notified in late September that it would lose its Medicare and Medi-Cal funding, effective Oct. Rechnitz said he believes that regulators were unfair by decertifying the facility before granting him a follow-up visit, which he described as customary. A follow-up survey resulted in another serious deficiency, Rechnitz said, and the state was notified last week that the home would close.

It was the first time since that the Department of Public Health had issued a suspension order against a facility. Perched on a scenic hill outside Auberry, the sprawling white complex was constructed in as a tuberculosis sanatorium by Fresno County, then closed in and later reopened privately as a nursing and rest home. Rechnitz bought Wish-I-Ah from a local family in By then, the facility had been a major employer in the rural area for more than half a century. In October, a state complaint investigation resulted in an page report chronicling numerous health hazards at the aging facility.

Surveyors cited bathrooms with standing water and toilets brimming with fecal matter. A poorly maintained sewage treatment system downhill from the home resulted in workers having to manually dispose of feces in garbage bags. Inspectors also detailed a gastrointestinal illness that swept through the facility in September and October, sickening numerous residents and staff. One year-old Wish-I-Ah resident, who contracted salmonella during the outbreak while recuperating from a mastectomy, died in late September following a wound infection. Inspectors found that Wish-I-Ah staff lacked the training to properly change her dressing, and she was admitted to an acute care hospital with sepsis, a life-threatening blood infection, state documents show.

Doctors discovered that a foam sponge used in the dressing had been left behind by staff and was growing into her skin; she died within a week.

Wish-I-Ah permanently shut its doors late last year, and 78 residents were relocated throughout the state. Nearly two-thirds were transferred to other Brius facilities. For instance, about 25 residents were transplanted to Brius homes in Humboldt County, some miles away along the windswept North Coast. As Wish-I-Ah was closing, state officials were deep into their investigation of South Pasadena Convalescent Hospital, a bed facility situated not far from the start of the annual Rose Parade.

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Since Rechnitz purchased the nursing home in , it has become a lightning rod of public controversy in South Pasadena, a quaint tree-lined enclave northeast of downtown Los Angeles. The facility failed four consecutive inspections in a five-month period last year, beginning with a May survey, during which a year-old female resident collapsed in the presence of inspectors.

The nurse and nursing assistant responding to a Code Blue did not know how to properly administer CPR, according to state documents, and the woman died. Ten staff members did not respond correctly when asked later by inspectors about CPR guidelines. South Pasadena Police Chief Art Miller, who served with the Los Angeles Police Department for 35 years, said his small force has been plagued by criminal complaints inside and outside the facility.

California’s largest nursing home owner under fire from government regulators | The Sacramento Bee

For his officers, the changing patient population has resulted in an overwhelming level of service calls — an average of 60 per month — related to residents, he said. Some patients have wandered into businesses or neighborhoods, shoplifting or dealing drugs, while other residents have victimized each other, he said. By comparison, South Pasadena Convalescent had 1, service calls during that same period, Miller said, with crime reports taken for sexual assaults, robberies, batteries and thefts. In one instance, state records show, police were called to the facility in October to investigate a fight between patients.

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In another case, state records show, a year-old resident admitted to smoking methamphetamine in a facility bathroom. Rechnitz said the nursing home was one of five in his chain that accepted skilled nursing patients who also are diagnosed with mental illness.

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He acknowledged this is a difficult population to manage but added that mentally ill people also get sick and need skilled nursing care. A statement from his legal team noted that the South Pasadena facility is not locked and residents have the right, as determined by their doctors, to come and go. Even so, Rechnitz said he decided the facility would no longer accept patients with secondary mental health diagnoses and would cater to non-ambulatory residents only.

Nursing Homes Suck

During the March interview, Rechnitz was optimistic the facility would be recertified. He painted the building, put in new landscaping, gussied up the lobby and added valet parking. Late last week, though, with only 25 patients left, he told The Bee he is looking to give up his ownership stake.

Courtney Cargill had been an accomplished court reporter for years until mental illness descended and she drifted on and off the streets, according to her sister. She described Courtney as headstrong, and said the family became unable to care for her many needs. She was placed by a public guardian in November at South Pasadena Convalescent.

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