Kaye Langley has been complaining about conditions at the Golden Age of Welsh where she had three family members there.The State Health Department did an inspection in response to Langley's complaint and has found deficiencies.
For the last several months, Langley has been complaining to whomever would listen about the care her parents and God mother received at Golden Age of Welsh nursing home. And she's not about to go away quietly. " I went from the east the west to the north and the south. And I'm a voice to be reckoned with and I will be heard,"said Langley.
Kaye says her parents suffered through inadequate care that affects their well being and health. " My dad layin in a puddle of urine and full of vomit. My mom so infected with urinary tract infections,"she said, offering examples.
As well, she says her Godmother, Evelyn, who she calls Nanny, also had problems. "She ain't no trouble maker because everything she told you is true, because I was watching all of this.
Langley recently received a letter from the state indicating an inspection revealed various deficiencies including: failure to notify the doctor and family of a change in resident's medical condition; failure to treat resident with dignity and respect...failure to provide services according to acceptable standards of professional practices...and deficiencies related to catheter care, medical records and infections control and nurse aid competency.
In response to her complaint, the state has issued a 71 page letter detailing findings and describes deficiencies found as level two on a scale of one to four with four being the worst. Langley is critical of the state and system by which complaints are handled. She said, "I still demand to see my governor because he hired these people and there's too many deadheads on the payroll and he wants to complain about our state being in deficit. Well, that's due to the fact that there are too many dead heads on the payroll that he's hired and they're not doing their job."
The Director of Health Standards for the State, Erin Rabalais, says, "DHH takes the care of nursing residents very seriously..and that violations can lead to more serious failures if not corrected. Rabalais says in this case the golden age has six months to comply or risk being terminated from medicare/medicaid." she says dhh has received a plan of correction and is determining if the nursing home is taking necessary actions to come into compliance."
Langley says, "It's a little progress, yes. It's a quarter of a mile when we have a mile to go" Langley has now moved her family to a different nursing home.
When we first contacted Golden Age Administrator Justin Welch he told us the violations are low level and trivial and that all nursing homes get them. We had an interview set up with Welch but he canceled and asked us to report that he declined comment.
To read the State's 71 page letter dealing with its recent review of Golden Age click here,
The state also uses a "grid" in determining the severity of deficiencies.
If you are trying to assess the quality of a nursing home the check out the following:
Louisiana Health Finder Site
And Medicare offers a web site on nursing home care too.
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