Many families have no other option than to entrust staff professionals in a nursing facility to provide their elderly, rehabilitating or disabled loved one the best care in a safe environment. Unfortunately, mistreatment, abuse, and neglect still occur in many Colorado nursing homes, including those in Garfield County.
If your loved one was mistreated while a resident in a nursing facility, contact the Colorado Nursing Home Law Center attorneys for immediate legal intervention. Our team of attorneys has successfully resolve cases just like yours, and we can help your family too. Let us use the law on your behalf to ensure that those responsible for causing your harm are held legally and financially accountable.
If your loved one has been mistreated at Glenwood Springs Health Care, contact our Colorado nursing home neglect lawyers.
This Medicare/Medicaid-participating nursing center is a "for profit" home providing services to residents of Glenwood Springs and Garfield County, Colorado. The 54-certified bed long-term care (LTC) home is located at:
2305 Blake Avenue
Glenwood Springs, Colorado, 81601
(970) 945-5476
In addition to providing around-the-clock skilled nursing care, Glenwood Springs Care Center offers other services that include:
The federal government and Colorado routinely monitor every state nursing facility to identify serious violations of established rules and regulations and levy monetary fines or deny payments through Medicare when problems are found. Typically, these violations result in penalties when investigators found severe problems that harmed or could have harmed a resident.
Over the last three years, nursing home regulatory agencies levied a massive monetary penalty of $128,915 against Glenwood Springs Health Care on November 21, 2016, citing substandard care. Also, Medicare denied payment for services rendered that same day.
The nursing home received six formally filed complaints that all resulted in citations. Additional information about penalties and fines can be reviewed on the Colorado Department Of Public Health an Environment Department of Public Health Website concerning this nursing facility.
Our attorneys obtain and review data on all Colorado long-term care home from various online publically-available sources including the CO Department of Public Health website and Medicare.gov. The information serves as an essential tool when making an informed decision of placing a loved one in facility-care to identify dangerous hazards, opened investigations, health violations, safety concerns, filed complaints, and incident inquiries. Additionally, the data helps families better understand the services their loved one is currently receiving at the care center.
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 four out of five stars for quality measures. The Garfield County neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have found serious deficiencies and safety concerns at Glenwood Springs Health Care that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated January 30, 2018, the state investigators noted that “the facility failed to ensure one [resident] received the appropriate treatment and services to maintain their highest practicable physical, mental and psychosocial well-being.”
The surveyors noted that “without evidence of sufficient assessment and implementation of person-centered dementia care interventions, the facility administered an anti-psychotic medication, and apply personal alarms in a wander guard to the resident. Specifically, the facility failed to ensure necessary care and services were person-centered and reflected the resident’s goals while maximizing the resident’s dignity, autonomy, privacy, socialization, independence, choice, and safety.”
The nursing home also failed to “individualize non-pharmacological approaches to care were utilized, including purposeful and meaningful activities addressing the resident’s customary routines, interest, preferences, and choices to enhance the resident’s well-being.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated January 30, 2018, the state investigative team noted that “the facility failed to provide appropriate hospice services for [one resident] reviewed for hospice services.” The investigator stated that specifically, “the facility failed to coordinate hospice services and failed to develop a Care Plan for this resident’s hospice services.”
The incident involved a resident who was “cognitively intact for daily decision-making. The resident required supervision of one for eating. He needed extensive assistance of one for bed mobility, transfers, ambulation with his walker, dressing, toileting, personal hygiene, and bathing.” The resident’s MDS (Minimum Data Set) Assessment “reads the resident was receiving hospice services while a resident.”
The survey team observed the resident on the morning of January 25, 2018 while “in his room, seated in his wheelchair with his eyes closed. He did not appear to be sleeping but gave no response to attempt to converse with the resident. He had good positioning in his wheelchair, and his call light was attached to a shirt.”
Approximately thirty-five minutes later, the resident “remained as above, except his eyes were open at this time.” At 10:50 AM the same day, “he was lying in his bed at the time.” By 1:39 PM, “he was in his room, sitting in his chair and facing the door. He made eye contact and mumbled that he was doing okay. The resident had eaten very little of his puréed lunch.”
Four days later on January 29, 2018, at 10:03 AM, the resident was observed “sitting on the side of his bed and made no contact at this time. He was observed again [at 11:04 AM] and remained essentially the same as [before]. The resident was observed [at 11:33 AM while] lying in bed at this time but was awake. His roommate said that he had not been talking or feeling well that morning. There was a tab alarm in place on the resident’s bed and one attached to his wheelchair.”
By 1:55 PM, the resident “was curled up in bed on his right side in his sleep. He consumed the majority of his lunch on this date.” On January 30, 2018, at 8:46 AM, the resident “was out of his room, given [that] the isolation for influenza was lifted. He was in good spirits, made eye contact and socialized about football.”
By 9:45 AM, “he was with a hospice employee ambulating through the facility’s hallways with a gait belt and his rolling walker.” The survey team reviewed the resident’s Care Plan and noted that “there was no Care Plan for the resident in relation to hospice care and services.”
The Director of Nursing provided the surveyors a “Hospice Care Plan for [the resident].” This Care Plan revealed that the resident “has a terminal prognosis” including “end-stage disease.” The documentation shows that the resident “is currently supported by hospice for end of life/palliative needs. The intervention was to work cooperatively with the hospice team to ensure the resident’s spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical and social needs are met. The newly developed Care Plan did not delineate who was responsible for what service, did not include measurable objectives and was not comprehensive person-centered.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated January 30, 2018, the survey team noted the nursing home's failure to “maintain an infection control program designed to prevent the spread of disease and infection.” The investigator said that specifically, “the facility failed to operationalize appropriate isolation precautions techniques and ensure they were followed consistently for two of four hallways during an influenza outbreak.”
The nursing home also “failed to ensure proper sanitary technique was used during resident room cleaning in two of four hallways [and] ensure staff clothing was worn appropriately to minimize the risk of spreading germs.” The nursing home also “failed to ensure respiratory equipment was stored in a sanitary manner in three of four hallways.”
The survey team interviewed the Director of Nursing who also served as the Infection Control Nurse. The Director “provided an update at the facility might have an influenza breakout beginning and explained [that] one staff member had tested positive the previous Saturday, and [a resident] had tested positive on Monday.”
The Director of Nursing also said that “additional residents had begun to complain of body aches and other symptoms, so they had been swab tested for influenza, and the lab results were pending.” The Director of Nursing gave an update later that afternoon saying “the laboratory had notified the facility at 1:45 PM that all of the residents who had been swab tested early in the day required a repeat specimen to be sent because the mediums in the tubes were the incorrect solution for the influenza test. She did not know if the swab had been re-collected or was still in the process of being obtained.”
Observations of an isolation cart were made at 11:40 AM that same day “in the hallway outside [a resident’s] room. There was a 3-ring binder located on top of the cart that contained laminated pages that included instructions for standard, droplet, and contact isolation precautions and the policies and procedures for each.”
However, the surveyors noted that “the binder did not include which type of isolation precautions were in place and there was no sign of the door to notify visitors of the need to check at the nurses’ station [before] entering the room.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated January 30, 2018, the state investigators noted that the “facility failed to maintain an infection control program designed to prevent the spread of disease and infection. Specifically, the facility failed to ensure and advise [that medications prescribed to two residents] currently receiving antibiotics [were] necessary for specific infections.”
The survey team reviewed the Professional Standards according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Nursing Homes and Assisted Living [Centers] that was last updated on February 28, 2017. This documentation reads in part:
“Improving the use of any device in healthcare to protect patients and reduce the threat of antibiotic resistance is a national priority. Antibiotic stewardship refers to a set of commitments and actions designed to optimize the treatment of [infections].”
The state survey team reviewed a resident’s Medical Records, and MDS (Minimum Data Set) Assessment that revealed the resident “had short-term and long-term memory problems with severely impaired cognitive skills for daily decision-making.” The documentation shows that the resident “was totally dependent on staff for bed mobility, transfers, dressing, toilet use, and personal hygiene.” The information revealed that the resident “was always incontinent of urine and was not currently on a toileting program.”
According to the documentation, the “resident had received advice for six to seven days” to treat her condition. The resident’s Care Plan initiated on October 7, 2016 that was last revised on January 24, 2018 “identified bladder incontinence related to dementia and a history of chronic urinary tract infections. The goals included the resident would remain free from skin breakdown due to incontinence and would not experience signs and symptoms of a urinary tract infection.”
However, the investigators noted that “laboratory results reviewed from January 1, 2017, through January 25, 2018, shows that the resident “did not have a urinary tract infection diagnosed during that time.” A review of the “Pharmacist Consultant’s Progress Notes reviewed from August 18, 2017, through January 18, 2017, indicated a monthly review was conducted. Each monthly entry document [this] resident’s Medical Records has been reviewed in accordance with CMS regulations regarding pharmacy services. The monthly documentation did not include any requests or irregularities identified by the pharmacist.”
The resident was observed by the surveyor’s “lying in bed in her room of the covers pulled up to her neck, and she appeared to be asleep. She had tested positive for influenza on January 23, 2018 and was currently isolated in her room.”
The investigative team interviewed a Registered Nurse (RN) who was providing the resident care who “confirmed he routinely worked with [the resident]. He said the resident was currently receiving [treatment] for urinary tract infection and clarify the resident did not currently have an infection. He said the resident had been receiving the antibiotic daily for as long as he had been working at the facility” which was for some time. He said that “the resident would have urinary incontinence and urgency when she had a urinary tract infection and she did not currently have [any] symptoms.”
Do you suspect that your loved one suffered harm while residing at Glenwood Springs Health Care Center? If so, contact the Colorado nursing home abuse lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 now for immediate legal intervention. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Garfield County victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Glenwood Springs. Contact us now to schedule a free case review to discuss how to obtain justice and resolve a financial compensation claim.
Our experience can ensure a positive outcome in your claim for compensation against those that caused your loved one harm. Our network of attorneys accepts all nursing home abuse lawsuits, personal injury claims, medical malpractice cases, and wrongful death suits through a contingency fee arrangement. This agreement will postpone the need to make a payment for our legal services until after our attorneys have resolved your case through a jury trial award or negotiated out of court settlement.
Our network of attorneys offers every client a “No Win/No-Fee” Guarantee, meaning if we are unable to resolve your case successfully, you owe us nothing. We can begin representing you in your case today to ensure you receive adequate compensation for your damages. All information you share with our law offices will remain confidential.
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