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Nursing home company deals with resident concerns, seeks more help

Post-Star - 2/21/2017

Feb. 18--QUEENSBURY -- The company that operates Warren Center and numerous other area nursing homes has begun holding monthly "family meetings" after relatives of residents expressed concerns about staffing levels and procedures that some claim have led to injuries, including one woman whose daughter said has been hospitalized eight times in recent months for falls.

The company, Centers Health Care is now looking to work with area colleges and the local BOCES to create nurse training programs to create a better pipeline for health care workers as it deals with complaints about staffing from families of those at the former Westmount Health Facility, the 80-bed Warren County-founded nursing home it bought at the end of 2015.

Queensbury at-Large Supervisor Rachel Seeber said several relatives of Warren Center residents asked her to attend a "family meeting" for relatives of residents that was held in late January, which she said seemed productive. The company has agreed to hold monthly meetings for relatives going forward.

The January meeting was held days before the home's owner, Centers Health Care of New York City, was to hold an open house, to which it invited local media. But it was canceled days before it was to be held, with no new date set. Centers Health Care spokesman Tom McCartin said the company plans to reschedule it.

Seeber said she met with Centers Health Care's regional nursing home administrator, who she said was receptive and explained that the company is working to attract and keep local nursing help.

"They are having a problem, like many in the health care field, of getting nurses," she said.

McCartin pointed out that the home remains the highest-rated local nursing home, as it was when Warren County owned it, with a four-star rating on medicare.gov. He said the company has staffing levels above the state-required threshold, and a recent partial state survey gave it higher marks for "quality measures," and the staff is better trained than it was when Centers purchased the home.

We have met with and are working on developing a partnership with SUNY Plattsburgh, SUNY Adirondack and the local BOCES chapter to help develop local, well-trained nursing talent," McCartin wrote in an email. "Working with the schools, potential nurses (new LPNs and/or nurses studying to move up from LPN to RN) will be identified and interviewed.

Selected candidates will be reimbursed for their education expenses by Centers Health Care, we provide licensing assistance, and they are assured of employment with Centers Health Care upon graduation and licensure. Their only obligation is to commit to working at a Centers Health Care facility."

The company is also paying for training for certified nursing assistants and guaranteeing them jobs with the company, he added.

Queensbury resident Linda Curran said she believes staffing problems have played a part in her 87-year-old mother having an estimated 30 falls at the nursing home over the past year, requiring eight visits to Glens Falls Hospital, many of them over the past 4 months or so. The most recent earlier this month resulted in two broken ribs and a cut to the head that required sutures she said.

Many of the former county employees who knew the residents, including the administrator and director of nursing, have left since the home was sold as the new owner changed salary and benefit plans

"These are serious things, and it all started since Thanksgiving," she said.

There are alarms that alert staff when residents leave their rooms or stand up from bed, but many times there is no staff response when the alarms are triggered, Curran said.

Curran said families have concerns that there isn't enough staff, and many of the staff members are employees of agencies who are brought in on a per diem basis and don't know the residents.

The Post-Star obtained a copy of a letter that was sent to nursing home administration, outlining their concerns about a "revolving door" of staff, loss of longtime employees that families believe has led to a "lack of attention to everyday needs."

Seeber said some of the families were hoping the county could intervene, but with the home no longer county-owned, that is not possible.

"We don't have the oversight anymore, but we can certainly be present," she said.

Centers Health Care has bought former county-owned nursing homes in Warren, Washington, Essex and Fulton counties, operates Indian River Nursing Home in Granville and its chief operating officer is planning to buy two more privately owned local homes, The Orchard in Granville and The Stanton in Queensbury.

Don Lehman covers crime and Warren County government for The Post-Star. His work can also be found on Twitter @PS_CrimeCourts and on poststar.com/app/blogs.

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