Baldomero Lopez Memorial Veterans Nursing Home

On top of receiving a strong overall grade, this facility received an A+ inspection score. This score is based on the facility's recent inspection reports. An A+ in this area is one of the best complements we can pay to a nursing home. Our inspection ratings are tied to datapoints located in the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Facilities that receive favorable grades in this area have few deficiencies on their reports. Most importantly, these places should not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with risks to patient safety. 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. Even some of the best nursing homes receive an occasional ding on their inspection report.

This first-rate facility also excelled in the area of nursing, where it received a grade of A+. Few nursing homes performed better in this area. We looked at the levels of nurses working for the facility, in addition to the number of hours the nurses worked with residents, in computing our grade in this area. This facility boasts a really impressive 5.6 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis, of which a significant percentage of those hours were provided by registered nurses. This is one of the most highly highly trained levels of nurses. On top of offering impressive levels of nursing care, this facility also excelled in several of the quality-based metrics we assessed. With under 5 percent of its patients suffering from pressure ulcers, it fared as well as any place the country in this category. This is generally an indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Many pressure ulcers can be prevented by providing better nursing care and having a system of moving residents more often.

This nursing home also fared very well in the area of short-term care, where it received a grade of A-. Not many facilities fared better in this category. Short-term care scores are important for individuals needing rehabilitation. Rehabilitation usually requires more skilled nursing. Skilled nursing means a wide scope of services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, as well as other types of therapy. When we assessed this place's nursing hours, we found it provided quite a bit more care from registered nurses than most facilities. The last metric we assessed in this area is the percentage of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return home. We discovered that 0 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home.

Turning to our last area, this nursing home was awarded an extremely favorable long-term care score. In fact, we awarded it a grade of B+ in that area, rounding out one of our more impressive profiles. Facilities that excel in long-term care tend to be well-staffed and offer extensive hands on care to patients. After looking at the impressive nursing hours provided by this nursing home, we next considered the nursing home's vaccination record. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is significantly higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. This combination proved to be successful as this place was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.