Positive changes: County nursing home makes improvements 3 months after recommendations
PantagraphJul 12, 2018
Since April:
* Four of 78 resident rooms have been converted from semi-private to private.
* A hospital nurse liaison has been hired to assist with placements in the nursing home.
* The nursing home has become a part of
* 13 full-time clinical employees have been hired to replace all temporary contract staff.
Discussions continue for the nursing home to become a part of
Long-term, Administrator
But, for now, Wegner,
"I feel that we have got a lot done very quickly based on the committee's (panel's) recommendations," Wegner said Wednesday following a walk through the nursing home at
"We've made some positive changes," Wegner continued. "The residents are taking notice and the families are extremely complimentary.
"I think some people forgot the county (nursing home) was here and they are starting to take notice again," she said.
"I've been very pleased," McIntyre said. "We're still in the early stages, but we've already seeing some results."
"There have been some significant upgrades in the facilities ..." added panel member AJ Querciagrossa, president of OSF Home Care and Post-Acute Services. "The leadership team from the county as well as the administrator and staff are doing an incredible job on the action plans."
Smith said changes happening at the nursing home "sound great."
The nursing home is a 150-bed facility with 100 beds certified for Medicare or Medicaid residents and 50 for private pay or Medicaid.
From 2013 to 2017, the number of residents declined from 136 to 101. The number of residents on Tuesday was 101 with 55 on Medicaid, Wegner said.
The decline in residents meant the nursing home has been losing money. According to McLean County Auditor
The losses caught the attention of the
The panel concluded that reasons for the resident decline included the nursing home not being a part of OSF's and Advocate's skilled care network to facilitate referrals, the need for renovation of the 1974 building, and a perception among some county residents that the nursing home is for poor people only.
"Our nursing home has been known as a good place," McIntyre said. "But some people think of county nursing homes as the county poor farm. We need to update its reputation."
Converting the four semi-private rooms to private rooms cost only
"Private rooms are what most people are looking for now for therapy and short-term stay," Wegner said.
The hospital nurse liaison will meet with potential residents in hospitals, doctors' offices and homes to assess residents for placement in the nursing home.
"Our goal is to increase admissions and be readily accessible to (hospital) discharge planners," Wegner said.
Replacing the contract staff with 13 full-time employee will save money because contract nurses get paid more than salaried nurses, Wegner said. The nursing home has 140 full- and part-time employees.
Wegner said the nursing home will need to increase its census to 125 residents before it can break even.
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