Administrators Says Windsor Gardens Improving
The regional administrator for the Windsor Gardens Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center said Tuesday that a "complete systems breakdown of management" was responsible for the center's "poor care" and that steps were being taken to fix the problem, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Barry Dyches said the company had "found the problem" one month before state investigators discovered "horrifi[c]" conditions during an unannounced visit on Oct. 4, including patients with "growing bedsores and worsening infections" and some who "hadn't been bathed or shampooed for days." Dyches said he fired staff members 90 minutes before the health inspectors visited the facility, saying, "We made changes in the administration of the building from the top down." He said Windsor Gardens "takes this issue very seriously," adding, "We feel confident about the care provided there. And I believe we now have a strong team at Windsor Gardens" (Clark, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12/13). Sue Trenary, a supervisor with the Department of Health Services' San Diego licensing division, said that the facility has improved "significantly" since October (California Healthline, 12/12). However, Windsor Gardens still faces action by the state, as the health department this week will send its report, complete with a recommendation that criminal charges be brought against the nursing home, to the state attorney general's office. The nursing home also faces more than $180,000 in fines, and Trenary said that its former director of nursing "will be referred to the state Board of Registered Nurses for license review." In addition, Windsor Gardens will be reviewed by HCFA, which could exclude the nursing home from Medicare or Medi-Cal reimbursement (San Diego Union-Tribune, 12/13).
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