I just learned that a nursing home in West Palm Beach has been fined $16,000 after a patient was found on the floor with maggots crawling out of his leg cast. An August 2008 report by state regulators determined that Azalea Court Nursing Home failed to provide necessary care to the resident, who had a cast on his lower leg, leading to the infestation of maggots. The patient’s broken leg was supposed to be treated every three days, but the facility could only document weekly treatment.

In April 2008, just four months before the above-mentioned incident report, inspectors cited the 120-bed facility for a series of isolated events that it said “put the health or safety of residents in immediate jeopardy.” The nursing home was put on a “watch list” and given just one out of a possible five stars as its overall inspection grade, including just one star for quality of care and quality of life measurements, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. State regulators gave Azalea Court a “J” grade for protecting residents from mistreatment and having policies to prevent abuse. That grade means there was “immediate jeopardy” to resident’s health or safety for isolated violations. You can find Florida’s watch list and get other state ratings of nursing homes here. Azalea Court has appealed the penalty.
 
I can’t help but wonder if the resident in this case has any family members nearby who oversee his care. I know that when my father fell last fall while living in his continuing care retirement facility, I was there every day afterward to check on his care and rehabilitation at the on-site nursing home. This shouldn’t be necessary – a resident in a senior living facility should get quality care whether there is a relative or friend watching or not; but I can’t help but think that in reality – at least in some senior living facility – it does matter.

What is particularly appalling about this story is the paltry size of the fine – $16,000??!! I’d like to know how state regulators came up with that amount. And more importantly, when the appeals process is complete, will the facility face any fine??

According to the Jacksonville Business Journal, an international senior living development company is building a senior living facility for people with Alzheimer’s disease, its first project in North Florida.

Sunrise Senior Living  plans to open the 65,000-square-foot facility this fall at 4870 Belfort Road next to St. Luke’s Hospital. The assisted living and Alzheimer’s care facility will be able to offer more than 90 residents a variety of amenities and services. Sunrise Senior Living operates about 450 facilities around the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany, including eight others in Florida.

As many as 5.3 million people in the United States are living with Alzheimer’s. According to the Florida Alzheimer’s Research Center, the following is a list of early warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease. However, if someone has several of these symptoms, it does not mean they definitely have the disease. It does mean they should be evaluated by a medical specialist trained in memory disorders. The seven warning signs are:

1. Asking the same question over and over again
2. Repeating the same story, word for word, again and again
3. Forgetting how to cook, or how to make repairs or how to play cards- activities that were previously done with ease and regularity.
4. Losing one’s ability to pay bills or balance ones checkbook
5. Getting lost in familiar surroundings or misplacing household objects.
6. Neglecting to bathe, or wearing the same clothes over and over again, while insisting that they have taken a bath or that their clothes are still clean
7. Relying on somebody else, such as a spouse, to make decisions or answer questions they previously would have handled themselves.

There is no way to guarantee that you or your loved one will not get Alzheimer’s. However, many of the things that are good for your heart are also good for your brain. Quit smoking, get regular exercise, and eat foods such as fruits, vegetables, and fish. Avoid foods high in saturated fat or cholesterol. Other helpful lifestyle changes include keeping mentally active, staying socially involved with others, reducing stress, and wearing seatbelts and bicycle/motorcycle helmets.

This just makes me sick to my stomach. Yesterday police in Punta Gorda, in southwest Florida, arrested an employee of the Punta Gorda Elderly Care Center on charges of abuse and battery on a 76-year-old resident. Police say 58-year-old Letitia Calderwood was employed as a Certified Nursing  Assistant at the facility. According to police, an employee of the center reported Calderwood had requested the assistance of her and an additional employee in helping the resident who had fallen in a bathroom. Calderwood and the two other facility employees had difficulty helping the resident to her feet and reports say Calderwood subsequently kicked in her lower back while using a profanity. Once the resident was helped to her feet, Calderwood reportedly struck her in the face with an open hand.

Detectives say Calderwood admitted to kicking and striking the resident as originally reported. She reportedly stated that her actions were done out of frustration although she knew the patient was disabled and had limited ability to stand on her own. Calderwood was arrested and transported to the Charlotte County Jail.

Thank goodness the other employees of this facility immediately stepped forward to report this alleged abuse. If you are concerned that someone you know is being abused or neglected in a Florida senior living facility, you can report it to the Florida Department of Children and Families. On their website – http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/abuse/ – you will find detailed information about the Florida Abuse Program, and how to submit a claim via phone, fax or online.

Last week, my father fell while alone in the apartment of his continuing care retirement community. I am so thankful that he was wearing his “alert” necklace. He was able to push the button, which sent an emergency signal to the security staff in his senior living building. In a matter of minutes, they were in his apartment, helping him up off the floor. Thankfully, he was not seriously injured. A continuing care retirement facility means that while my father lives in a fully independent apartment, there is a nursing home on the same property. So in a situation such as this, one of the registered nurses from the nursing home was called to his apartment to evaluate him after the fall. This gives me great peace of mind, to know that he has access to a full medical staff 24/7. Otherwise, in this case, the security officer would have had to call an ambulance to transport him to a nearby hospital.

When you are evaluating a senior living facility, be sure to ask specific questions about the safety and security measures the facility offers. In my father’s case, each apartment comes equipped with an emergency pull-cord in the bathroom. But the “alert” necklace that he wears was an optional feature that we had to order through his maintenance department.

Have you or a loved one been helped by an “alert” necklace or other safety feature in a senior living facility? Share you comments below.

When I was younger, I used to read articles about the challenges faced by “The Sandwich Generation” – people trying to care for aging parents while supporting their own children at the same time. Even just a few years ago, that seemed like a foreign concept to me. My mom had passed away in 1989 from ovarian cancer. Her battle with the disease happened during my final year of college, so I never had the opportunity to truly take care of her.  My dad, now 84, has lived a fully independent and active senior lifestyle until recently. It was about 18 months ago, around his 83rd birthday,  that it became apparent that it was not in his best interest to live all alone in an apartment, without any built-in support system. Our family became concerned that he was not eating regular meals, he was not keeping up with necessary housework and, most importantly, he was not getting any social interaction.

It didn’t take much persuasion to get him to consider a move into some sort of Florida senior living facility near my home in Orlando. But finding the right senior facility in Florida - one that provided the amenities and atmosphere he wanted but that would respect his independence and dignity – that was a much bigger
challenge than I ever expected. Since he is still fairly independent, we knew he did not need a nursing home. My initial thought was an assisted living facility, but after visiting  a few I realized those types of Florida senior living facilities provide more care and less independence than he wanted. After educating myself about the  different types of senior living facilities that are available, I decided that he would do best in a continuing care retirement community – a property that provides different levels of care based on the needs of the individual.

As a former journalist, I pride myself of being able to quickly and thoroughly gather information on any given topic. So I was surprised and frustrated at my inability to find a comprehensive list of continuing care retirement communities in the Orlando area. I did find a few online, and a few in the phonebook. In the end, though, it was good old “word of mouth” that lead us to the continuing care retirement community he now lives in. That’s when I decided to develop a website that would offer a comprehensive database for a Florida senior living facility search.

Florida Senior Living Advisor is the culmination of nearly a year of brainstorming and research, with a healthy dose of fear and self-doubt mixed in. I sincerely hope that it will become a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning about senior living facilities across the state of Florida. I also hope to provide useful and timely information through this blog. This is most definitely a work in progress, so I encourage you to leave your comments here or send me an email at mitra@flseniorlivingadvisor.com.