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Monday, April 26, 2010 | 6:21 p.m.
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Sun Archives
- Treatment of elderly could be criminal (11-25-2009)
- Man says care of his mother at facility left her hospitalized (11-12-2009)
- Las Vegas adult group care home under fire (11-10-2009)
- State faults facility for care of seniors (10-29-2009)
Sun Coverage
A Las Vegas assisted living and Alzheimer's facility whose patients had to be hospitalized because they did not receive their medication will remain open and pay a $104,000 fine under a settlement agreement announced Monday.
Chancellor Gardens of the Lakes, a 109-bed facility near Durango and Sahara Avenue, failed to medicate dozens of its patients, some who paid up to $4,000 a month for care, multiple state inspections found in 2009. Its license was revoked in December, and an appeal hearing on the matter had been scheduled for today.
The settlement also requires Chancellor Gardens to hire a state-selected temporary manager of the facility, starting Tuesday.
"This settlement is a positive step," said Richard Whitley, administrator for the Nevada State Health Division, in a statement. "It is never the state's desire to shut down a facility."
A spokesman for Chancellor Gardens would not comment for this story.
In mid-September a state inspection revealed Chancellor Gardens residents were in “immediate jeopardy” because they were missing medications. A month later another inspection revealed that residents were not receiving their drugs, resulting in three hospitalizations. State inspectors discovered technicians were throwing pills away rather than administering them to residents.
Chancellor Gardens staff have been participating in medication management training since the fall, but have had additional problems.
A Nov. 18-19 inspection found that 25 of 78 residents were not receiving medications as prescribed and nine of 80 did not have one or more medications available.
And an April 9 inspection revealed that a resident was not self-administering blood thinner medication, resulting in hospitalization. The April violation was severe but different from the previous problems because it was not systemic, state officials said.
In 2009, the facility underwent 23 complaint investigations with 19 substantiated complaints.
The state's ban on admissions remains in place at the facility.
My mother was in local skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities for several months before she passed away and my father has had a couple rehabilitation stints. One thing I learned is that it's foolish to think that the staff can shoulder the burden without family assistance. But that's no excuse for these mistakes. What I'm saying is that it's unrealistic to think you can drop Uncle Marty or Aunt Mary off at the assisted living facility, visit every month or two and expect things to be peachy.
With the RIGHT people in place C.G. maybe able to recover from from this unfortunate mess. I do hope C.G. exec. have learned from this experience. $104,000.00 is the fine, is that negotiable? So you made a deal with the State. I question if all the allegations were true. However, for $104,000.00 you can remain open. With State still breathing down their back this community should now be the model for all A.L.F.
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. Question, the people that created this mess, are they still employed? Perhaps they are still out there working with seniors or children. That is just WRONG!
Typical Las Vegas way of doing things....Pay off the right people and you get a pass
I don't understand the criticism. Isn't this what is suppose to happen? The purpose of inspections, whether it's food production, aviation, or health care, is to identify the areas that can be improved. I suppose it's the natural role of the industry is to defend itself and minimize the criticism. Frankly, I surprised that this facility isn't whining "poor me" and "we've been abused by government". If the outcome of this process is improved quality of care for patients then the process works. All service systems have errors and people do make mistakes. It's ashame that some industries have to be shamed in the media before they make the changes. I work in a hospital. We dread the the state inspectors and Joint Commission coming in to the facility. We know our jobs are on the line and everyone is looking to blame someone--usually the nurse. The inspections are different now than it use to be because they seem to be coming in more often and don't turn their heads to the problems. As an employee, when I identify something that could be improved I don't get supported by hospital administration to implement my idea but if the state inspector or Joint Commission notes it you can be assured the change will be made. With the economy bad and profits down I know that cost saving measures often result in cutting corners. This isn't the time to reduce inspections in health care. This reporter seems to have more depth than others in the local media. It would be terrific if all of the press explained the quality improvement process so the public understood rather than reduce an issue to conflict between quality inspections and the for profit industry. Keep it up!
Smarterthanyou, I am glad you live in a world where the elderly are always easy to care for. No one with an aging parent has to work a full-time job while raising their children and are unable to provide 24 hour supervision for their parent. No one with an aging parent has any physical or health problems of their own that makes it impossible for them to lift, clean, and care for a full-sized adult.
I will say one thing about this reporter...... he sure can repeat himself over and over again. Most of this article can be read in previous articles. I don't mean to be mean, but the only new news is the fine. Come on find something else to write about.
RoniRN
Are you kidding me?
"All service systems have errors and people do make mistakes." In this care facility, employees were caught throwing away medications instead of giving them to patients! This facility had missing medications needed for patients care.
Throwing away patients medications instead of giving them to the patients is not cutting corners it is at best neglect. This neglect by the facility resulted in patients being hospitalized and you call it "errors and people do make mistakes".
Throwing away medications is not a mistake or error it is a deliberate act and quite honestly, it disturbs me you are defending these inexcusable actions.
The patients or their families/insurance is paying for the medications. The patients' doctors are prescribing these medications, because hello the patients need these medications.
Care facilities are BEING PAID to care for the patients, this includes ensuring those patients actually receive their medications.
Let this be a wake up call for all A.L.F., increase your staff. Forget your budget, staff according to the needs of the residents. Most of these caregivers work very hard. It's a thankless job. There are more people working in a fast food restaurant than in a A.L.F., for 80-125 residents. This has always been an issue with S.N.F. and A.L.F.
Yes, there is not enough staff at Chancellor. Further, there is such a large turn-over that training is useless. While assisted living staffing is a very difficult job, especially since there are very few experienced enough to hire the right people, theft is what happens when these low-wage earners are hired. They make a killing and then either don't show up for work or get fired. Then it seems routine that the thefts are never solved. It's a never ending circus and I don't see the State or anyone else solving these issues.(Been there. . . )
The value of lives lost and harm caused to seniors = $104K. I am stunned. My family was called by the state DA office to testify against them and then we were informed that the hearing was "postponed" BS- it was settled and forget you Mr. Richard Whitley, did you loose a family member in thier care? Did you pay $2100 for a semi-private room? Did they move you around without your permission? Steal your personal items? Lie to you? Did they let your parent walk away and not call you for 15 hours and by that time it was too late? The parent became lost and died in the heat then NOT report the death to the state for a year? What about untreated bedsores and sleeping in urine? How about witholding your medicine? CG has over 600 individual instances of misstreatment to seniors. Did that $60M company pay for your new car or house? Richard were you promised to get a free retirement there? I think you should be placed in there for sure! Indeed you should consider the place for all your loved ones since you care so much more for CG then thier victims. Shame on the State of Nevada and shame still upon you CG. -- To those who died I'm sorry that your country nor your state cared to serve justice upon the hands of your killers. $104K is nothing more then a tax deduction for these people. Yep Richard, indeed I hope you get the opportunity to be a resident there someday. When your old and fragile and your family needs assistance with your care, I hope and pray that they pick CG for your last days of life. BTW- a little advise, insure you tell your family members everytime you see them that you love them cause you never know when your card will be called for discard placed in the wheeling dealing hands of CG"