To say that Otto Kangas did not receive the care he should have while a patient at St. Francis in the Park Health and Rehabilitation in Superior, Douglas County, Wisconsin is an understatement. In March 2008, after two weeks of an untreated infection, he was hospitalized for a pressure sore on his heel, gangrene, and cellulitis. In violation of federal regulations, no one at the nursing home bothered to tell his family of this change. His family only learned of his plight when the hospital called looking for permission to operate on Mr. Kangas' foot, which had a wound "open to the bone" with yellow drainage. Surgery was performed to remove dead tissue from the wound. Unfortunately, Mr. Kangas died on April 19 at St. Francis while running a temperature of 102 degrees.
St. Francis in the Park Health and Rehabilitation, which is owned by HP Superior, Inc., is facing 20 citations for federal and state nursing home regulation violations. At least three of these have the potential for the most serious designation of "immediate jeopardy". The monetary penalty for those violations totals $154,700 and federal government fines continue to accrue at $300 per day until the facility is back in substantial compliance. The state may be assessing additional fines in the future.
The State of Wisconsin is carefully watching the HP Superior owned-facility due to the number of recent complaints. The facility is being watched so carefully that there are two full-time monitors in place. Complaints range from pressure sore problems, staffing ratio problems, insufficient standards of care, poor housekeeping, freedom from restraints, infection control, preventing accidents, staff in-service training, and medical record maintenance. The staffing ratio problem had been previously addressed after a state visit in April, but the plan of correction was only followed for one week. The corporate office fired the nursing home administrator, Gerald Hodges, for refusing to cut staff ratios further. The new administrator began in May and reportedly cut staff hours by 17%.
More complaints were received at the end of May and early June. One complaint was filed by a facility resident awaiting lung transplant on May 27. The complaint was that she waited from 25 to 45 minutes for assistance. She died the same day the complaint was made.
Conditions deteriorated further between June 4 and June 16. In one instance, a woman died after the staff failed to perform CPR despite a medical directive to do so. In another case, a fall-risk patient had to wait nearly an hour to be taken to the restroom. Staff members told surveyors about insufficient staff levels and that with the staffing provided, they were unable to provide good quality of care.
