Ballou Home for the Aged
60 Mendon Road, Woonsocket RI 02895 · (401) 769-0437 · 84.88% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Ballou Home for the Aged is located in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. With an overall score of A+, this nursing home is without a doubt a top-shelf nursing home. Indeed, this turned out to be better than most of the facilities in Woonsocket, which boasts a good selection of facilities. Finally, this is a very consistent nursing home with consistently strong ratings in each of the major categories. More information about these categories is available below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 43 Beds
CCRC :
Non profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Long-term Care Quality
We also found that this facility excelled in our long-term care rating. We gave them an impressive grade of A+ in this area. Nursing homes that do well in this category typically are well-staffed and offer extensive hands on care to residents. On top of offering well above average levels of nursing care, this facility gave the pneumonia vaccine to 100 percent of its patients. Vaccines are critical to keeping patients out of the hospital. Finally, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. With only 1.52 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, this nursing home had fewer hospitalizations than the majority of nursing homes.
Facility Inspections
This facility also earned an A+ inspection score, making it one of the rare facilities to receive multiple A+'s in our category grades. This is based on the facility's inspection reports. An A+ in this category is one of the biggest complements we can pay to a nursing home. Our inspection ratings account for a host of factors included in a nursing home's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with higher scores in this area typically have few severe deficiencies. While this place had a few deficiencies on its government inspection report, none were severe based on CMS' scale. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Nurse Quality
This nursing home also received an A+ nursing grade, making it one of the few nursing homes to receive multiple A+ category grades. The nursing grade includes numerous subcategories. The most heavily weighted variable is the number of hours nurses spent with patients. This facility provided 5.4 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis. This was one of the better totals we found. In addition, we found that a significant portion of this care was provided by registered nurses, which are highly skilled nurses. On top of offering high levels of care, this place was also above average in each of the major quality-based metrics we looked at in this category. It performed well in terms of minimizing its residents' pressure ulcers and major falls.
Short-term Care Quality
Moving on to the last category, this facility was given a strong short-term care score. In fact, we awarded it an A in this area, resulting in this facility receiving straight A's. Our short-term care grades are crucial for residents seeking rehabilitation. Rehabilitation usually mandates more skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing means a broad range of nursing services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, as well as other variations of therapy. When we assessed this facility's nursing hours, we found it offered substantially more care from registered nurses than most nursing homes. Lastly, we considered the number of residents who were able to return home from this nursing home. We found that 0 percent of this facility's residents returned home.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Ballou Home for the Aged Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This datapoint is an indication of the percent of long-term care patients who developed new or worsened pressure ulcers. We've found that pressure ulcers are a reliable barometer of nursing care quality.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This metric tells you the percentage of long-term residents who have experienced a fall leading to serious injury. Falls can happen for a variety of reasons, but excessive numbers of falls may be an indicator of poor nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This indicates the percent of residents who sustained a urinary tract infection. These infections are linked to poorer hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is the percentage of residents who were given antipsychotic drugs. These drugs may be used to treat a variety of conditions, including cognitive disorders.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This datapoint is a measure of the percent of long-term residents taking antianxiety drugs.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
Measures the percent of long-term patients who are demonstrating symptoms of depression. Some argue that this is a measure of quality of life.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This is the percentage of residents that were administered the pneumonia and flu vaccines. High vaccination rates should be the norm at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term patients that required additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. ADL's include activities such as moving around and bathing.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term patients that retained mobility levels.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This metric is a measure of the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of patient care. Minimizing hospitalizations is key to the physical health of nursing home residents.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This tells you the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term patient care. There is typically a correlation between avoiding hospitalizations and a nursing home's quality of short-term rehabilitation.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better