The Gardens at Winsted

This facility's overall grade was propped up by the fact that it has received favorable government inspections in recent years. We gave them one of our better scores in this area, with a B+. This is a much better grade than the facility's overall grade. Our inspection grades weigh a host of factors included in a facility's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we consider is the number and severity of deficiencies. Places with better grades in this area usually have very few severe deficiencies. Although this place had a few deficiencies on its inspection report, none were severe based on CMS' scale. We should point out that deficiency-free inspection reports are rare in the industry.

We also awarded this facility a favorable score in short-term care. This nursing home received a grade of B in this area, which happens to be one of our better grades. Our short-term care ratings are based on a facility's quantity of skilled nursing services. This includes a vast range of services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, in addition to other forms of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this facility employs registered nurses. Not every facility employs these skilled professionals. However, according to the data this nursing home provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The final item we considered in this area is the number of patients that ultimately were able to return home from the nursing home. We found that 4.5 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

In addition, we awarded this nursing home a grade of B in our nursing category. This is one of our better grades. The nursing score is based on several factors, most of which are based on quantities of nurse staffing. This nursing home provides 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality-based metrics and this place excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any facility the nation in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can typically be avoided by offering better nursing care, such as employing a system of moving a resident at least once a day.

The next category we scored is long-term care, which proved to be this facility's least impressive category. We awarded this nursing home a grade of D in this area. Sadly, this category hurt the nursing home's overall grade to some degree. For prospective residents seeking a permanent place to live as opposed to skilled nursing, long-term care grades are an important measure. After we finished assessing the volume of care provided by nurses, we then analyzed the nursing home's vaccination records. We were pleased to learn that this facility vaccinates 99.07407 percent of its residents against pneumonia. To our surprise, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. With only 0 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this facility had less hospitalizations than the average nursing home. Sadly, some of its other scores in the category were not as favorable as these.