March 2009 Nursing Home Report: Golden Living Center - North Little Rock
Golden Living Center - North Little Rock is a 120 bed nursing home facility located in North Little Rock, Arkansas. In the past three years, Golden Living Center - North Little Rock's inspection deficiency record has surpassed the average number of health deficiencies in Arkansas twice. Golden Living Center - North Little Rock received twenty-four deficiencies in 2008, nine deficiencies in 2007, and twenty-eight deficiencies in 2006. The average number of nursing home deficiencies in Arkansas is ten. Currently, Golden Living Center - North Little Rock is rated as a one-star nursing home according to the new system instituted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid.
Nursing home facilities are required to hire people who have no legal history of abusing, neglecting, or mistreating residents and to report and investigate any acts or reports of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment of residents. Nursing home facilities are also required to write and use policies that forbid mistreatment, neglect, and abuse of residents. Golden Living Center - North Little Rock failed its residents at least twice in these areas. Additionally, this facility failed to keep each resident free from physical restraints unless medically necessary.
Nursing homes are required to give each resident the care and services necessary to get or keep the highest quality of life possible for its residents. This facility failed its residents at least three times in this respect in the last three years. This Golden Living facility also failed to provide the proper treatment to residents with feeding tubes to prevent problems, such as aspiration pneumonia, vomiting, and nasal-pharyngeal ulcers, and to restore eating skills, if possible, multiple times in the past three years. The facility failed to provide professional services that followed each resident's care plan and have enough nurses to care for every resident in a way that maximizes the resident's well-being. This facility also consistently failed to make sure that residents who could not care for themselves with activities of daily living received the appropriate assistance and failed to make sure that residents entering the facility without a catheter did not receive one.
All nursing home residents have rights. This Golden Living failed to tell a resident's physician or family of a major change in the resident's condition, failed to keep each resident's personal and medical records confidential, and allow residents to see the results of the nursing home's survey easily. The facility was also cited for failing to allow the residents to give themselves their medications when able.
Golden Living - North Little Rock failed to have drugs and other similar products available which are needed both every day and in emergencies and to distribute them properly and to make sure that residents are safe from serious medication errors.
Every nursing home resident is entitled to a safe, clean, and homelike facility. Golden Living - North Little Rock failed its residents in this respect. This facility failed to ensure that the nursing home area was free of dangers that cause accidents and provide the necessary housekeeping and maintenance and to get rid of garbage properly. Golden Living also failed to ensure that staff members washed their hands when necessary and to have a program in place to keep infection from spreading.
The Terry Law Firm is experienced in handling nursing home cases of abuse or neglect and can be reached locally at (501) 663-2287 or toll-free at 1 (888) 317-2525. To learn more about nursing home abuse and neglect, visit us at www.nursinghomejustice.com.
