South Lyon Medical Center’s Nursing Home Receives Prestigious Five-Star Quality Rating

      South Long Medical Center received notification March 27, 2012 that it had attained the highest rating for a nursing home from CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services).  The facility was awarded five stars incorporating data collected through March 1, 2012.  CMS created the Five-Star Quality Rating System to help consumers, their families, and caregivers compare nursing homes more easily and to help identify areas that may raise questions.

      The Nursing Home Compare Web site now features a quality rating system that gives each nursing home a rating of between 1 and 5 stars.  Nursing homes with 5 stars are considered to have much above average quality and nursing homes with 1 star are considered to have quality much below average.  There is one Overall 5-star rating for each nursing home, and a separate rating for each of the following three sources of information:

      •           Health Inspections – The health inspection rating contains information from the last 3 years of onsite inspections, including both standard surveys and any complaint surveys.  This information is gathered by individuals who go onsite to the nursing home and follow a specific process to determine the extent to which a nursing home has met Medicare’s minimum quality requirements.  The most recent survey findings are weighted more than the prior two years.  More than 200,000 onsite reviews are used in the health inspection scoring nationally.

      •           Staffing – The staffing rating has information about the number of hours of care on average provided to each resident each day by nursing staff.  This rating considers differences in the level of need of care of residents in different nursing homes.  For example, a nursing home with residents who had more severe needs would be expected to have more nursing staff than a nursing home where the resident needs were not as high.

      •           Quality Measures (QMs) – The quality measure rating has information on 10 different physical and clinical measures for nursing home residents – for example, the prevalence of pressure sores or changes to resident’s mobility.  This information is collected by the nursing home for all residents.  The QMs offer information about how well nursing homes are caring for their residents’ physical and clinical needs.  More than 12 million assessments of the conditions of nursing home residents are used in the Five-Star rating system.

      On the Web site people are able to arrange the order of the nursing homes according to any of the three aspects above, as well as an overall quality rating based on those three sources of information.

 

Dr. Mary Wing – Long Term Care

Services Offered: 49 LTC beds

The Dr. Mary Wing opened in March of 1963 with a 16 bed addition to the acute care hospital for those patients needing long term care.  The Dr. Mary West Wing opened in 1998 making the total available beds at 49.  The wing is dedicated in honor of Dr. Mary Fulstone.  A life long resident who dedicated most of her life to the care of the families in South Lyon County.  The plaque honoring her service reads “for her years of devoted and unselfish service in the medical field . . .” 

All beds are certified for Medicare and Medicaid use.  South Lyon Medical Center provides services for all levels of Long Term Care requiring nursing care and physical therapy. This facility provides a warm home environment with resident centered care as the focus. The large Activity/Dining Room is light and cheery and includes a fireplace, quilts, and an indoor gardening area.

Adjacent to this room is our “Fireside Room”, appropriately named for the cozy sitting area around a warm glowing fireplace. This room houses a “memory corner”, with numerous treasures from the past on display. Each of these rooms exit onto one of two patios or our Long Term Care garden. The garden is filled with a variety of trees, plants and flowers for all seasons. There are numerous bird feeders, statuary, and other whimsical garden decorations. The garden surrounds a gazebo, which is framed with flower boxes. These boxes are wheelchair accessible and are planted by residents every spring.

The Activities Room has a wheelchair accessible kitchen and also exits onto another patio. Long Term Care bedrooms are roomy and bright. Each includes a window, with views of the garden area of the adjacent Bridge Street Park. The hallways are filled with beautiful works of art which have been donated to the residents over the years. Regular Resident Council meetings allow residents to have input on important things such as activities, outings, and the contents of the next cooking class.

Our LTC families and the community are very involved with the residents. Families of residents are welcome and encouraged to participate in the resident’s plan of care, as well as special dinners throughout the year. When entering Long Term Care, you are greeted by smiles and a sign reading “Here, at whatever hour you come, you will find light and help and human kindness”. For information please call Extension 6410 or dial direct 463-6410.

Long Term Care – Activities

Services Offered: Plans activities for LTC residents

The Activities Department plays a vital role in the daily lives of our Long Term Care residents. Vanessa Hicks, Activities Coordinator, plans daily and special events. Some of our favorite outings have been a picnic in Wilson Canyon, a lunch and shopping trip to Carson City, a luncheon cruise on Lake Tahoe, viewing the autumn colors, and enjoying the holiday lights of the Christmas season. For more information call Extension 6591.

The residents enjoyed the visit from the Budweiser Clydesdales before the Lyon County Parade in August.  For years, the residents have enjoyed participating in the parade.