Meaness, Elopements Cited at Montgomery Facility

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

"There's a lot of meanness here," a patient at a Montgomery County nursing home told a surveyor from the Pennsylvania Health Department during a recent visit.
That encounter plus evidence of multiple violations of state requirements were detailed in a Nov. 10 report on the Meadow View Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Lafayette Hill just feet away from the Philadelphia city line.
The inspectors found that the facility failed to properly investigate an incidents in which two disabled patients were able to walk out the door apparently unnoticed.
The patient who reported the "meanness," told the state employees he was barked at when he asked permission to leave his unit. He was advised not to ask again.
The surveyors found and observed several violations of infection control requirements in wards set up to treat patients who had contracted Covid-19 or had been in contact with someone who had the virus.
Employees were observed serving meals in the Covid-19 area without masks or protective equipment. Others were observed without the proper masks.
Employees told the inspectors that at one point in the midst of the pandemic there were no masks or protective gear available.
In other findings the records for a diabetic patient showed the physican overseeing care was not informed when blood/sugar levels skyrocketed.
In addition the facility had failed to set any goals or interventions for the patient.
"The patient complained his blood/sugar levels were not checked as required before an insulin injection," the report states.
Finally the report states that three smoking patients were not properly monitored and one patient's records were inaccurate.
Facilty officials did not respond to questions about the report. They did file a plan of correction with the state health agency. Under the plan officals of the 244-bed facility said housekeeping issues had been resolved and the nurse who yelled at a patient was instructed on the proper way to address a patient. The plan noted that the two patients who eloped were uninjured. Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com