Northwest Indiana veterans have few options for quality nursing home care
He electronically moved his driver's seat back, then shifted his body into a wheelchair, letting out an "uh" as he plopped down. The van's side door opened. A ramp automatically lowered to the ground, and
Nearly four years after suffering a debilitating stroke, the 74-year-old veteran -- he served in
In early 2015, that wasn't the case.
After being discharged from the
While there, White said, often no one would get him out of bed in the morning because the facility was so short-staffed. One day, he said, he didn't get his soiled diaper changed until noon. A woman with a memory disorder would wander in and out of people's rooms, including his, taking stuff, he said.
The care was subpar, White said, but he didn't have a choice:
The facility was below the national average in such categories as falls with major injury, worsening of patients' ability to move independently, high-risk pressure ulcers, lack of improvement in function for short-term patients, and patients receiving antipsychotic medications, according to Medicare. Each staffer took care of 110 patients per day, compared to 71 statewide. The facility had 11 citations in its most recent health inspection, and the same number in its last one, in 2016; the state average was 5.8.
A national trend
As recent news reports have pointed out the lack of quality at
"No veteran should have to tolerate a one- or two-star nursing home," said
The
In a response to a question from The
"These new ratings from the
Pappas, the
Regional
"We can put a facility on deferment. We can immediately pull a patient out and take them somewhere else until the issues are rectified," said
He compared the
Still, he said, "Our veterans deserve a higher-star quality."
But he noted that's hard to do under the current system.
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Veteran paid his own way
Nearly two years into his stay at
So he transferred to an assisted living facility in
"I was just being warehoused there," he said. "The
White noted that he wasn't physically abused at
The next closest
Despite the cost, White is happy in his new digs, a spacious townhouse outfitted with a huge TV, where he binge-watched the show "Breaking Bad," about his namesake, a high-school chemistry teacher turned meth kingpin.
But White knows many veterans aren't as fortunate. He has pensions from the military, from working at the steel mill, from being a state employee; he gets disability from Agent Orange exposure,
"I'm lucky," he said, seatbelted into his wheelchair. It had two flags sticking out the back: one with the
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