Ascension Living - Lakeshore at Siena

One of the reasons this ended up being a quality nursing home is that it received a very impressive inspection grade. Inspections ended up being its best category. In that area, we awarded this facility an A. Perhaps the most critical factor we consider in computing our inspection ratings is deficiencies. Deficiencies are found on a nursing home's inspection reports. Facilities with better grades in this area most likely dodged the most severe deficiencies involving patient abuse or death. This place was assessed 2 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none were considered to be major deficiencies. This indicates that the inspectors didn't consider any of these deficiencies an immediate threat to resident health or safety. A few minor dings aren't something to panic about.

This facility also excelled in the area of nursing, where it received a grade of A. Few nursing homes performed better in this area. Our nursing score is primarily tied to a nursing home's level of nurse staffing. This facility provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This facility performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a facility has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can typically be prevented if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

The third area we analyzed is short-term care. Adding to its first-rate profile, this nursing home also performed well in that area. In fact, we awarded it a grade of of A for that category. In the area of short-term care, we try to assess measures of a facility's rehabilitation services. We assess a nursing home's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses and various therapists. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not all facilities employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, according to the information this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final statistic we assessed in this category is the number of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return home. We found that 5 percent of this nursing home's residents were able to return home.

The next category we scored is long-term care, where this nursing home was given a grade of B. Believe it or not, this proved to be this nursing home's worst area. A nursing home is doing something right when it's worst score still is superior to most other nursing homes. Facilities that receive this type of grade in this category tend to provide consistent 24/7 care to ensure residents are well cared for. After looking at the volume of care provided by aids and other staff, we next considered the nursing home's vaccination record. This nursing home vaccinated 96.031746 percent of its residents against pneumonia, which is more than the average nursing home. Clearly, this nursing home is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 0.02 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.