Our nations’ nursing homes are in dire need of help. Every day, nursing home abuse attorneys of Messa & Associates, P.C. are contacted by individuals regarding some form of abuse or negligence that a loved one endured in a nursing home. The importance of patient care seems to have dissipated and its priority replaced by money and business related needs.
However, it seems there is has been a push for betterment in the nursing home industry. Advancing Excellence, NH Quality Campaign – a campaign created to encourage, assist, and empower nursing homes to improve the quality of life, prevent bed sores and pressure ulcers, and care for residents – is prepared to change the nursing homes of America.
Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys Support goals of Advancing Excellence Campaign
The coalition, which is the first of its kind, is made up of long term care providers, medical professionals, consumers, employees, and state and federal agencies. It has 8 major goals:
- To minimize staff turnover; a stable workforce will improve patient care.
- To employ a “Constant Assignment” plan so that patients are regularly cared for by the same caregiver.
- To reduce the time residents spend restrained. Independence will improve quality of life.
- To prevent bed sores and pressure ulcers, and to provide appropriate treatment of those that do develop.
- To prevent unnecessary or prolonged episodes of severe pain.
- To include residents in advanced care planning prior to the completion of their stay
- To use assessments of resident and family experience of care to improve future quality of care for patient safety.
- To use assessment of staff satisfaction of work environment to improve future quality of care.
Many nursing home establishments have joined forces with Advancing Excellence in efforts to improve the quality of care they provide. Obviously, these establishments are aware and agree that they are not providing top notch care. It’s good news to those who have suffered from nursing abuse, neglect, and inadequacy.
All nursing homes in New Jersey are in fact either participants in or charter members of the Advancing Excellence campaign. We should be proud that caregivers in the state are willing to step up and begin providing the kind of care our elderly citizens deserve.
New Jersey and Philadelphia Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys
If you are someone who has seen first-hand the effects of nursing home abuse, negligence, and inadequacy, it’s time to contact a nursing home abuse attorney. The team at Messa & Associates is dedicated to earning justice and compensation for those injured or worse by negligence and abuse in nursing homes and long term care facilities.
Call, toll-free, 1-800-MessaLaw, or submit a free online inquiry. If you would like immediate assistance, click the CHAT LIVE icon to the right. A representative is present right now to answer your questions.
A 70 year old woman who was a resident of the University Place Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Charlotte, North Carolina was rushed to the Carolinas Medical Center University on the morning of Sunday, August 29, 2011 with a broken pelvis and facial bruise. When the family asked the nursing home what caused the injuries, they told her that the elderly woman had fallen, but emergency room staff at the hospital said that the injuries were not consistent with a fall. This led the family to believe the woman had been assaulted. They alerted the Police and Department of Social Services, an entity that handles allegations of elder abuse, and both began an investigation into what really happened to the woman.
It is important, as 
Today, we are reporting on the Stratford Nursing & Convalescent Center located in Stratford, New Jersey. The latest published report shows all of the violations found during the routine inspections for the two year period between November 2008 and October 2010. The Stratford Nursing & Convalescent Center had 33 cited nursing home violations on the two combined inspection dates. The facility’s citations included safety code violations, life safety code standard violations, and others related to abuse and neglect. The level of violations were mainly rated as being pattern or widespread violations, with at least four considered to cause immediate jeopardy to the residents health or safety. Stratford’s ratings are a sure cause for concern, and it is quite clear that immediate corrective action needs to be taken. The facility’s noncompliance with one or more standards has caused, or is likely to cause, serious injury, harm, impairment, or death to a patient or resident. 
These surfaces typically have layers that help provide optimal immersion and comfort for the nursing home patient. These surfaces are designed to have independent zones to provide the correct pressure for each weight range. These surfaces are designed, in fact, to help aid in both the prevention and the treatment of bed sores and pressure ulcers. Redistribution of surface pressue is very important as the pressure causes the small blood vessels in the skin to collapse, which deprives the skin of oxygen and nutrients, causing them to die. Nursing homes should avoid using donut-type devices and most sheepskin products for pressure redistribution. Staff members should be aware of the need for proper surfaces. Not using the proper surface for patients is tantamount to nursing home abuse. The use of the proper pressure-redistributing surfaces along with proper repositioning may be two of the most important bed sore prevention tips that all families should be aware of and vigilant to for the well being of their loved ones. 
At the Mininno Law Office, we know from experience that it can be a difficult for a family to decide whether or not to investigate if a nursing home should be held responsible for injuries to a loved one. Furthermore, it can be quite disheartening at a later time when the law firm a family finally trusted to perform an investigation sends a letter indicating their disinterest. Based upon the experience of 
