Back in March, I wrote a letter to Aldona Wos , the North Carolina secretary of DHHS. The letter was a simple explanation of my frustrations with the NCDHSR. I also requested that Secretary Wos would have someone review Mom's file. I sent the letter by regular mail, and never received a response.
In July, I sent the same letter via certified mail. This time I received a response from Mark Payne, the chief of staff of the NCDHHS. The letter is basically a timeline of what was supposedly done following the complaint investigation. There is nothing in the letter that addresses any of the questions I had asked. Typical government response to a question, answer anything except what you are asked.
There are specific things in the report that are not true, or contradict what is said elsewhere in the very same report. This is a symptom of a problem that is system wide in the NCDHHS and CMS. Neither of which will even attempt to explain or even look at what is there. If they were to look they could not ignore us any longer. But how do you get them to look ?
I am not disputing what Mr. Payne says in his letter except the part about a "thorough investigation". I included a list of questions that I would ask Todd Davis, the origional investigators. I also asked for a simple review of the facts. I am working on a list of questions for the investigators. I also requested documentation for some of the facts from the so called review. Now I wait for an answer from Mr. Payne.
I sent him a copy of Todd Davis's summary of the investigation, which is full of mistakes and false statements. Any of which prove that the investigation was not taken serious at all. Hopefully that may matter to someone at the NCDHHS. I have a feeling they will not respond, or that they will tell me the matter is closed as they have up till now. How can you improve on a system if you cant look at mistakes after the fact. Most people just get the response and accept that the NCDHHS has the final say. I believe it is my right if not my responsibility to point out the flaws in the whole nursing home inspection process.
The purpose of what I'm doing is to encourage reform of the nursing home inspection system. I believe that if you have people who worked in that environment, they become blind to the violations. They know that the nursing homes are understaffed and they overlook things because of that. What if they sent someone who was not from a medical background along with the team. Would the results still be the same? What if they were not allowed to announce the arrival of the inspectors over the intercom. If you've ever been in a home when it is being inspected, they put a sign on all entry doors and they announce the arrival of the inspectors.
How do they ever expect to find something wrong if they dont take time to look? They already know what the issues are at the homes, they just dont go beyond that. It's like working in a restaurant and the health inspector comes in. First thing you do is pull the can opener and run it through the dishwasher, if not thats the first thing you get written up for. The main difference is that the mistakes made in nursing homes are sometimes a matter of life and death.
In order for things to cahnge, they are going to have to start looking for real problems, not just the can opener. Staff levels in nursing homes are the main cause of everything else. There are no laws that I've found that say how much staff is required per resident. They break it down by the number of hours worked by the nurses and cna's. There is no specific number required on each shift, regardless of the number of patients. No wonder so many people " fail to thrive " as Dr. Russell puts it on the death certificates.
I saw on the news yesterday where a man got eighteen months in prison for animal abuse. Nursing home residents are being neglected to the point of death, and there are no substantiated complaints. I guess people care more about cute little animals than a helpless elderly person. Things need to change, I can use all the help I can get. Please continue to contact me and share your stories. It will someday make a difference.
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