Was your loved one abuse in a nursing facility at the hands of caregivers or other residents? If so, your family may be entitled to receive financial compensation for your damages. The Arkansas nursing home abuse attorneys have represented many nursing home victims in the Lonoke County area and can help your family too. We provide Free consultations. Discuss your case with our reputable nursing home abuse affiliated lawyers today to see if you can receive justice and compensation for your loved one.
This facility is a "for profit" center providing services to residents of Lonoke and Lonoke County, Arkansas. The 141-certified bed long-term care home is located at:
1010 Barnes Street
Lonoke, Arkansas, 72086
(501) 676-3103
NOTE: Medicare has labeled Barnes Healthcare (SFF) Nursing Home as a Special Focus Facility (SSF) because of persistently substandard quality of care as determined by federal and state inspection teams. This designation means that the nursing home is subjected to more frequent surveys and inspections, escalating monetary penalties and the potential of being terminated from Medicaid and Medicare.
The investigators for the state and federal nursing home regulatory agencies have the legal responsibility of penalizing any facility that has violated rules and regulations that harmed or could have harmed a resident. These penalties often include monetary fines and denying payment of Medicare services. Within the last three years, the federal government has fined Barnes Healthcare (SFF) Nursing Home once for $9,296 on March 24, 2017, and denied payments for Medicare services twice on March 24, 2017, and August 10, 2017. The facility has also received eighteen formally filed complaints and were cited after self-reporting a violation. Additional documentation about fines and penalties can be found on the Arkansas Adult Protective Services website concerning this nursing home.
Detailed information on each long-term care facility in the state can be obtained on government-run websites including Medicare.gov and the Arkansas Department of Public Health website. These regulatory agencies routinely update their list of incident inquiries, dangerous hazards, opened investigations, health violations, filed complaints, and safety concerns on nursing homes statewide.
According to Medicare, this facility maintains an overall rating of one out of five stars, including one out of five stars concerning health inspections, one out of five stars for staffing issues and one out of five stars for quality measures. The Lonoke County neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have found serious deficiencies, hazardous violations and safety concerns at Barnes Healthcare (SFF) Nursing Home that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated April 27, 2018, a notation was made by the state surveyor regarding the nursing home's failure to "ensure the infection control program included specific information as to how infection control data would be utilized to track and trend infections in the facility." The state investigator reviewed two months of infection control logs and documented the facility's failure to ensure that infections were tracked or trended "to assist the facility in identifying and addressing any potential patterns of infection and facilitate the ability to develop interventions, such as additional staff training, to minimize the spread of infection in the facility."
The survey team documented this deficient practice as having the potential "to affect all nineteen residents who resided in the facility, as documented on the Resident Census and Conditions of residents form dated April 23, 2018." A notation was made the facility does not understand "how the information should be utilized to track/trend infections." A review of the infection control book "contained no Infection Program and no tracking and trending of infections" for a specific amount of time. The Director of Nurses was asked "have you initiated an infection control program?" The Director responded, "well I thought I did. I try to keep track of it."
The Director was asked "how do you track and trend infections?" the Director replied, "I log it in the book." The surveyor's asked the Director "why is it important to identify, monitor, track and report infections?" The Director responded to "try to keep things from spreading and try to keep [the residents] from getting infections."
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated April 27, 2018, the state investigator noted the facility's failure to "ensure influence of pneumococcal vaccinations were offered and administered, or the reason the vaccines were not administered was documented in the clinical record." This action is to "ensure the necessary measures were taken to prevent influenza or pneumococcal infections to the extent possible." The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved two residents at the facility "whose pneumococcal and influenza vaccine status was reviewed. This fail practice has the potential to affect for residents who did not receive an influenza vaccine in the facility and seven residents who did not receive a pneumococcal vaccine in the facility, as documented on the list provided by the Director of Nurses on May 8, 2018."
In one incident, the investigators reviewed a resident's MDS (Minimum Data Set) Assessment Sheet that "did not indicate whether the resident had received the influenza vaccine and document that the resident was ineligible to receive the pneumococcal vaccine due to medical contraindications." The investigator reviewed the resident's March 13, 2018 Admission Agreement and Consent form "signed by the resident Representative giving permission for the influenza pneumococcal vaccines to be administered."
The state investigator interviewed the Director of Nurses who was asked, "Did you document the reason vaccines were not provided?" The Director responded, "I cannot verify that." The survey team interviewed the Social Services Director who was asked: "when a resident is admitted, how do you keep track of a resident who refused the influence or pneumococcal vaccine?" The Social Services Director responded, "I would write refused on the side of the consent form that addresses the immunization. No one here has ever refused since I have been here."
The investigator asked the Director of Nurses "what could happen if the resident does not receive the flu or pneumococcal vaccine?" The Director of Nurses replied, "it puts them at higher risk of catching the flu or pneumonia."
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated December 14, 2017, the state survey team documented failure at the nursing home. The report details the failure "to ensure that before side rails were installed on a residents bed, and assessment for entrapment risks was conducted in documented, alternatives to side rail use clear attempted, the potential risks and benefits of side rail use were discussed with the resident or representative." The report also details a failre to obtain an informed consent "to ensure, to the extent possible, that side rails were a necessary, safe and effective intervention."
The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved one resident who "had side rails in use. The failed practices had the potential to affect seven residents who had [one or two] side rails in use, as documented on the list provided by the Director of Nurses."
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated October 20, 2017, the state investigator documented the facility's failure "to ensure the physician was properly consulted regarding a resident's complaint of itching and possible insect bites, to expedite any necessary treatment." The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved a resident who "reported possible insect bites and itching. The fail practice has the potential to affect one resident who reported possible insect bites in the last 30 days."
Documentation revealed an observation made of a moderately impaired resident "during an initial round with a Registered Nurse (RN)" when the "resident was walking in the hallway [who] approach the RN, and stated he woke up with bite marks from bugs this morning. There were red bumps on his right shoulder. He also stated that he had seen bugs in his room."
The following morning at 8:45 AM, "the resident, was lying in bed watching TV. He was asked about the bugs in [his room and stated] 'I have not seen any bugs today.'" However, just after noon the same day "the resident approached the nurse's station and informed a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) that he had red bumps on his arms and needed something for itching and that it had been itching for a few days. [The LPN replied,] 'you did not say anything Friday (August 4, 2017). She looked at the resident's arms and asked if he had been outside." The resident responded, "No." The LPN stated that "it is probably a mosquito bite, but I will call the doctor. The resident stated 'let's see how this turns out.' This was a period of approximately twenty-two hours after the resident initially reported the red bumps to [the RN] on August 6, 2017."
The state investigator reviewed Nursing Notes documentation and other places inside the clinical record but found no "physician notification regarding the resident's complaint of insect bites. The surveyor informed the Director of Nurses, at this time, that the resident had reported the bumps to [the RN] on August 6, 2017, and that there was no documentation in the clinical record." The Director then "completed a skin assessment on the resident. There were four small bumps on the right shoulder and three small bumps on his right leg."
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 10, 2017, the state investigator documented the facility's failure "to ensure the physician-order treatment was promptly initiated and consistently provided to treat the resident's bleeding hemorrhoids and control the resident's pain." The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved one resident at the facility "who had bleeding hemorrhoids that were causing him pain, and had the potential to affect three residents who had physician's orders [concerning hemorrhoids]."
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 10, 2017, the state investigators documented that the nursing home had failed to "ensure supervision and adequate, competent staff were provided on the secure unit to promptly intervene when residents exhibited aggressive behaviors and prevented resident-to-resident altercations." The investigators also documented a facility's failure "to ensure staff to work on the secure unit were trained on dementia care and how to intervene with residents who exhibited aggressive behaviors. The surveyors also said the "failed practices resulted in an Immediate Jeopardy, which caused or could have caused serious harm, injury or death to [five] residents and had the potential to cause more than minimal harm to thirteen residents who resided on the secure unit."
A review of one incident was documented in the Incident/Accident Report dated June 1, 2017, that said the nursing staff was called "to the resident room but observed the resident on the floor with a laceration to the four had 2.0 cm long by 0.1 cm wide. There was no assessment/investigation completed to identify causative factors and no documentation interventions were developed to [prevent] further potential falls or minimize the potential for fall-related injuries."
If your loved one was the victim of abuse, mistreatment or neglect while a resident at Barnes Healthcare (SFF) Nursing Home, contact the Arkansas nursing home abuse attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 now. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Lonoke County victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Lonoke. Our abuse and mistreatment injury attorneys represent victims injured by neglect of the nursing staff. Our network of attorneys working on your behalf can ensure your family receives adequate financial recompense for the injuries, harm, losses, and damages your loved one has endured by others. Contact us now to schedule a free case review to discuss how to obtain justice and resolve a financial compensation claim. Let us fight aggressively on your behalf to ensure your rights are protected.
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