SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 1203 words
HEADLINE: Numerous problems found in Bexar nursing homes ; Most of the facilities have been charged with 10 or more health violations.
BYLINE: Analisa Nazareno
BODY: After walking in and out of dozens of nursing homes in Texas, Peter Irwin has some advice for people who are considering sending a loved one to a nursing home in San Antonio.
"Keep them free and independent of those nursing homes for as long as possible," the 75-year-old San Antonio seniors advocate said.
A San Antonio Express-News review of data taken from federal Medicare and Texas Department of Human Services Web sites shows many nursing homes in Bexar County have numerous health inspection violations and struggle to meet quality guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Most of the county's 53 nursing homes had 10 or more health violations during inspection visits between June 2001 and August 2002. Bexar County homes had an average of 13 violations; nursing homes throughout the state had an average of nine deficiencies.
One nursing home - the River City Care Center at 414 N. Hackberry St. - had as many as 35 violations.
The director of administration at the East Side home declined comment.
And most scored poorly - an average of 54 - on the state's evaluation system that grades nursing homes on a scale from 0 to 100.
The state uses a combination of inspection reports and surveys of quality of life criteria and medical standards to come up with the ratings.
Even nursing homes that scored above the local average on the state's rating system - such as Silver Creek Manor at 9014 Timber Path - showed poor results on national quality guidelines, such as excessively restraining residents to beds or wheelchairs.
Melody Chatelle, a spokeswoman for the company that owns and manages Silver Creek Manor, said consumers should consider the type of patients a nursing home serves when examining criteria on the Web sites.
"Certainly, this (restraining residents) is an area that we're always monitoring," Chatelle said. "A lot of it has to do with the acuity of patients."
Nationally, nursing homes used restraints on beds or wheelchairs to hold down 10 percent of patients, but in Texas, 18 percent of nursing home residents were held using restraints. According to the www.medicare.gov Web site, Silver Creek restrained 35 percent of its residents.
LENGTH: 1203 words
HEADLINE: Numerous problems found in Bexar nursing homes ; Most of the facilities have been charged with 10 or more health violations.
BYLINE: Analisa Nazareno
BODY: After walking in and out of dozens of nursing homes in Texas, Peter Irwin has some advice for people who are considering sending a loved one to a nursing home in San Antonio.
"Keep them free and independent of those nursing homes for as long as possible," the 75-year-old San Antonio seniors advocate said.
A San Antonio Express-News review of data taken from federal Medicare and Texas Department of Human Services Web sites shows many nursing homes in Bexar County have numerous health inspection violations and struggle to meet quality guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Most of the county's 53 nursing homes had 10 or more health violations during inspection visits between June 2001 and August 2002. Bexar County homes had an average of 13 violations; nursing homes throughout the state had an average of nine deficiencies.
One nursing home - the River City Care Center at 414 N. Hackberry St. - had as many as 35 violations.
The director of administration at the East Side home declined comment.
And most scored poorly - an average of 54 - on the state's evaluation system that grades nursing homes on a scale from 0 to 100.
The state uses a combination of inspection reports and surveys of quality of life criteria and medical standards to come up with the ratings.
Even nursing homes that scored above the local average on the state's rating system - such as Silver Creek Manor at 9014 Timber Path - showed poor results on national quality guidelines, such as excessively restraining residents to beds or wheelchairs.
Melody Chatelle, a spokeswoman for the company that owns and manages Silver Creek Manor, said consumers should consider the type of patients a nursing home serves when examining criteria on the Web sites.
"Certainly, this (restraining residents) is an area that we're always monitoring," Chatelle said. "A lot of it has to do with the acuity of patients."
Nationally, nursing homes used restraints on beds or wheelchairs to hold down 10 percent of patients, but in Texas, 18 percent of nursing home residents were held using restraints. According to the www.medicare.gov Web site, Silver Creek restrained 35 percent of its residents.
The San Antonio Express-News owns the copyright to this story. For a full copy of this story, e-mail Analisa and she will send you a clip via e-mail or snail mail.
