The Landing of Lake Worth – Legal Analysis
The Landing of Lake Worth is a for-profit nursing home is owned/licensed to Columbia/Wegman Lake Worth LLC and has been managed by Leisure Care, LLC since January 2018. Leisure Care is a large senior living corporation based out of Seattle, Washington.
The Landing at Lake Worth facility is located at 9948 Woodwind Lane, Lake Worth, Florida 33467 and offers a variety of programs such as memory care, occupational therapy, pet therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy.
Since the facility underwent an initial licensure survey on 7/24/2018, the facility has undergone two more surveys by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). Both of these surveys were initiated by complaints submitted to AHCA regarding deficiencies at the facility.
Complaint Statement of Deficiencies dated 5/9/2019 at Landing of Lake Worth
According to an unannounced survey conducted on 5/9/2019, The Landing of Lake Worth was cited by AHCA for failing to include a staff member on their background screening employee roster. The Business Office Manager stated that she had prepared the roster that same day, and believed that each staff member had been properly listed on the roster. However, upon closer examination, she conceded that she had failed to include one staff member onto the roster.
It is extremely important to have an accurate employee roster in case there is an accident in the facility and records need to be examined at a later date. Without the right staff, assisted living neglect and negligence can occur inside Florida facilities.
Complaint Statement of Deficiencies dated 11/6/2019 at Landing of Lake Worth
Approximately six months after the first complaint survey, another unannounced survey was conducted at The Landing of Lake Worth pursuant to a complaint. During this survey, AHCA found several deficiencies related to staffing and training.
State regulations require that staff who provide direct care to residents receive a minimum of one hour of training within thirty days of employments that covers: reporting adverse incidents, facility emergency procedures, resident’s rights, and recognizing and reporting resident neglect. The surveyor found that several staff members who were also certified nursing assistants had not received training in resident’s rights and incident reporting. When this was brought to the facility’s Business Office Manager’s attention, she stated that the facility was transitioning to a new system for training and that employee records had not been updated.
Moreover, regulations require that each staff member provide a statement from a health care provider stating that the employee in question does not have any communicable diseases. The tests on which the health care provider based this statement must have been conducted no earlier than six months prior to the date of the statement. Employees must also provide documentation that they do not have communicable diseases on an annual basis.
The surveyor noted that a review of staff records at The Landing of Lake Worth showed that several employees’ personnel files did not contain a statement by a health care provider regarding the employee’s status as free from communicable disease. Nor did the files contain any current annual statement regarding that employee’s communicable disease status. This is extremely important to document, because you don’t want staff to spread deadly germs to residents who are already in a vulnerable health status. This could lead to complicated health issues like infection.
When this was brought to the Business Office Manager’s attention, she stated that the facility had started to work with a new laboratory and that they were in the process of updating their employees’ lab work.
Finally, with regard to staff who care for those with memory issues, the surveyor found that at least one employee, her personnel file contained no training certificate for the training that employee allegedly received. Not being trained to deal with residents with memory issues can lead to serious problems like patient elopement. Most of these deficiencies were corrected on the next report over a month later
Did You Suffer Abuse or Neglect Inside The Landing of Lake Worth?
If you or a loved one suffered abuse inside The Landing of Lake Worth, or any other Palm Beach County long term care facility, call our nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys at Senior Justice Law Firm today at 561-717-0817.
