The reason for a rash of bed sores at Neighbors Rehabilitation Center in Byron, Illinois is easy to see. The Wound Care Nurse at Neighbors Rehab stated to investigators “I am here for 8 hours per week to do treatments. I rely on everyone to make sure interventions are in place and effective.”
A wound care specialist is expensive because it’s a difficult and essential job. An 8-hours-a-week part-time care specialist might be sufficient for a 15 or 20 bed nursing home. That would, at least, provide a half hour of time each week for each resident to be evaluated for skin breakdowns and injuries.
Neighbors Rehabilitation Center in Byron, Illinois has over 100 beds. That’s 4 minutes. Just 4 minutes a week for each resident to ensure that they’re getting the quality of care that will prevent skin breakdowns and bed sores.
Bed sores, also known as pressure ulcers are some of the most dangerous and debilitating injuries that can take place in a nursing home. They frequently prove fatal. Bed sores are evaluated based on 4 stages. A stage 1 bed sore can appear as a pale or red mark on the skin. By stage 4 they are horrific injuries that frequently reveal exposed bone. Stopping these bed sores from developing is essential to the lives and safety of nursing home residents.
Nursing home inspectors at Neighbors Rehabilitation found 4 residents with bed sores during a recent inspection of the facility. 4 of the bed sores found were stage 4, or unstageable, the worst possible kind of bed sores.
These kinds of injuries can only develop when the nursing home is committing nursing home neglect. There are too many opportunities to stop a bed sore before it reaches stage 4. Techniques for preventing, stopping the development, and healing bed sores are well documented, but they require meticulous care. The kind of care that Neighbors Rehabilitation proved incapable of providing.
Hourly shifting of the resident to prevent constant pressure, frequent changes of clothing to prevent damp conditions, and a dedication to providing adequate nutrition and hydration are all effective against bed sores.
If you have a loved one who has developed a bed sore in an Illinois nursing home or hospital, contact my law offices for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At my law firm we never charge a fee unless we take, and win, your case.
Other blog posts of interest:
Three residents develop bed sores at Helia of Greenville
Multiple bed sores at Aurora Rehab
Failure to turn and reposition results in new wounds at Arthur Home