Nursing home question | Arthritis Information

Hey folks, my mom made it through her knee replacement surgery last week and only had a few probs with needing blood and so forth. We had trouble with her physical therapy because she fell behind so we had to place her in a nursing home to keep her on schedule so her knee would heal properly.

Unfortunately that did not work out either as there was only one avail at the time for her to go to and the PT was less than satisfactory and she backslided way too much. To make a very long and upsetting story short, we had her discharged and have a person in to take care of her PT.

Now my question. Does anyone know of an organization that oversees nursing homes? I am not speaking of this particular one, just nursing homes in general. I would like to see if there is an advocacy group or some entity that overlooks the care and environment in nursing homes. It is scary.....have you ever eaten at one? Have you even seen the food they give these people? This could possibly be us someday and I want to be reassured that I will not have to live in a room without airconditioning or eating substandard food that is not nutritious. I think at the very least the bed should be with a mattress that cushiones your skeleton from the bars beneath. I know there are laws for treatment but are there laws about facility functionality?

This is one topic I see a desperate need for. Perhaps not in all nursing homes, but many of them that we have seen are unbelievable and hot and smell. If the gov can regulate pollution of our environemnt why is there not a standard for indoor air in nursing homes?

Just thought I would ask, I just really think that this needs to be addressed. I already told my daughter to make sure if I ever have to be placed in a nursing home, it had better be one that she would feel comfortable living in herself.

You may pm me if you would rather.

jode

Hello,

I have worked at skilled nursing home and had family at some and they were not what you have just described. How horrible for you and your family. Your state also has an ombudsman that you can contact. http://www.ltcombudsman.org/static_pages/help.cfm

Just click on your state for information.

Skilled nursing homes are licensed by each state. You can contact the department of health and human services (or whatever they are called in your state and lodge a complaint or ask questions.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid services (CMS) are also involved in skilled nursing facilities. Most of the insurance money that is received is from CMS. They would be someone else I contact.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/

If the facility is accredited (maybe by the Joint Commision) you may contact them and lodge a complaint.

http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Complaint/

I hope this helps. You can PM if you need more information.

Best of luck

Thankyou for the info, I do not want to file a complaint or otherwise cause trouble, truly I do not. This particular NH was just not the facility right for my mother's needs. I am certain they do good work and the majority of the staff was kind and attentive to our mom's needs.I found some of the circumstances appalling and was wondering if there was a governing body to oversee practices and I will certainly look those links up that you have provided.

It is good to know that not all facilities are that way. Perhaps it was a personal thing that the PT staff did not like our mom for whatever reason. What matters is that she is doing so much better and gaining her strength and mobility back, and her range of motion has improved significantly.

jode