Abernethy Laurels

Abernethy Laurels is the sole option we found in Newton, North Carolina. This facility is ranked among the most impressive facilities we found. In fact, it received our very best rating. In fact, this facility has the prestigious distinction of being one of the top 50 facilities in North Carolina. This also wound up being a very consistent facility with consistently strong ratings in all four of the major categories we assessed. Additional information about its category grades can be found below.

In addition to being a great overall grade, this facility also received A+ health inspections in recent years. Its inspections were virtually flawless. Our inspection scores weigh several factors included in a facility's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we look at is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Facilities with higher grades in this category tend to have very few of these severe deficiencies. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Contributing to its strong profile, this facility also received a dominant short-term care score, with a grade of A. In forming these short-term care scores, we look at the facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. Our purpose is to devise a tool for sizing up the rehabilitation services of different nursing homes. One reason for this facility's strong score in this category is that it provides more care with registered nurses to its residents than the average nursing home. The last item we looked at in this category is the number of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return home. It performed as well as just about any nursing home in North Carolina in this area with 60.7 percent of its patients returning home.

The third area we analyzed was long-term care. Contributing to its superb profile, this facility also excelled in that category. In fact, it received a of A in the category. When facilities receive a score in this range in long-term care it generally means it's well-staffed and is an overall good place to live on a permanent basis. In addition to looking at the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we also looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility administered the vaccine to 99.81651 percent of its residents, which is much higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. Clearly, this nursing home is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its residents out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Turning to the last area, this nursing home also excelled in our nursing category. We awarded it an A in that area. This rounded out a straight A report card. In determining a nursing home's nursing grade, we consider the number of hours nurses commit to patients and the levels of training of the nurses. With 4 hours of nursing care per resident per day, this nursing home surpassed the national average. Lastly, this nursing home also excelled in several of the quality-based metrics we assessed. With fewer than five percent of its residents experiencing pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any nursing home the country in this category. This is usually a good indicator that a place has reliable quality controls. Many pressure ulcers can be avoided by providing better nursing care and a protocol of moving residents more often.