There are only two nursing homes in Harrisburg, Illinois. One is rated by Medicare.gov’s Nursing Home Compare website as a 4-star-facility, and the other is a 1-star-facility. Sadly for the Harrisburg, Illinois residents filling its 142 beds, the Saline Care Center is the 1-star facility.
Nursing home falls, perhaps more than any other hallmark of nursing home neglect, virtually always correlate to wildly unsatisfactory staffing levels, and the Saline Care Center is no exception. The facility staffs 25 fewer minutes of licensed nursing time for each resident per day, 20 minutes less of registered nurse time, and 30 minutes less of certified nurses aide time per resident per day.
That’s over an hour of trained professional time each resident goes without each and every day. It makes for a very profitable nursing home, but not a safe one.
The Saline Care Center was recently fined $10,000 by the state of Illinois for nursing home neglect that has led to numerous injuries. One resident cited in the report fell 19 times between June and December of last year. That’s over a fall per month.
When a nursing home is drastically understaffed, nursing home falls become unavoidable. The Saline Care Center violation report makes it easy to understand. Just a few examples from the report are; 6/5/2011 resident found on floor in bathroom, 6/17/2011 resident found on floor in front of recliner, 6/27/2011 resident found on floor in dining room beside the table, 9/17/2011 resident fell standing from table, 10/1/2011 resident found on floor between wheelchair and recliner. Tragically, the list goes on.
These residents of Saline Care Center need to be helped getting into and out of a recliner, and using the bathroom, and maneuvering to the dining room table. When they don’t get the proper assistance, they fall. When nursing home residents fall, they can be very badly injured.