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Concerned1998 Asked June 2017

How is it legal for an ALF to be owned and managed by one person with a staff that has no healthcare experience?

I visit an assisted living facility in Illinois that is owned by one person, is the manager & has no background related to healthcare. 90% of Residents need skilled care. All staff she hires are basically anyone desperate for a job paying $8.45/hr no benefits. The facility is nice & a farm like setting with very nice decor, carpeted everywhere except bathrooms, shower rooms & kitchen. Here is my concern: I think there are about 21 people living there & at least 17 of them have dementia/Alzheimer's, diabetics who can't give their own insulin, incontinent of bowel & bladder, have Foley caths, Supra-pubic caths, cannot take their own medications & a couple are wanderers (leave the facility) as well as get combative. I have seen the staff leave people sitting in dirty depends filled with bm until it is so dried on that they end up having to shower the person. Many have bed sores on their bottoms & when you ask the staff to clean someone up or change their depend they say it's not their job that this is assisted living & we are only suppose to help remind people to take their meds, assist them with showering twice a week, do their laundry, light housekeeping & 3 meals a day. Does anyone have any idea how this can be legal? There have & probably still are clients there who have C-diff & are incontinent of bowel with episodes all over the carpeting in their rooms & kitchen staff have had to go in & help clean the person up then track the bm from the carpet throughout the rest of the facility as well as go back to the kitchen to prepare meals! The owner has been running this facility since she built it & knew most of the people that are residing there now, they are pretty well off, & in order to save the family of the residents money she basically tells them that she will keep their mother or father there & provide skilled care under the table. However, their not getting good care & it sickens me, so does the fact that the owner is making big bucks but can't pay her staff accordingly (one lady has been working there 10 yrs. & still only makes $9.00/hr). Any answers? She's been getting away with this for years so I assume she knows all the loop holes.

JoAnn29 Jun 2017
Report them.

freqflyer Jun 2017
Concerned1998, one thing I am curious about, you mentioned there are patients who use insulin, have Foley caths, Supra-pubic caths, cannot take their own medications and there are patients who have bottom bed sores... and that the owner is keeping most of the funds... how do you know that just by being a visitor??? 

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97yroldmom Jun 2017
This is horrible. I hope you find someone to report it to that will listen. It needs to be reported as many times as it takes to get something done.

Sunnygirl1 Jun 2017
In most states, long term care facilities require licensing by the state and they are regularly monitored for compliance with regulations. And they investigate any complaints of violations or problems. In my state, the facilities history of violations and citations, corrections made, follow up, etc. is found on an online website maintained by the state. You might explore to see if the place you are concerned about can be located. If they have such across the board violations, I'd suspect that they have been reported by someone by now.

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