Continuing Care at Wind Crest

In addition to receiving a great overall score, this facility also earned an excellent long-term care score, with an impressive grade of A. Nursing homes that receive this type of score in this category typically provide consistent around the clock care to make sure patients are kept in good health. Once we concluded our assessment of the amount of care provided by nurses, we next considered the facility's vaccination statistics. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its residents for pneumonia, which is an impressive figure. Pneumonia tragically can be a dangerous illness for nursing home patients so we strongly prefer when a facility doesn't leave its residents vulnerable. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this facility was awarded a top-shelf score of A in our short-term care category. Our short-term care ratings are thought to be most important for those needing rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation usually mandates additional skilled nursing. This includes not only nursing services, but also physical and respiratory therapy, as well as other variations of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these skilled professionals. However, according to the information this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. Finally, we considered the number of residents that ultimately returned home from this facility. We found that 5.3 percent of this nursing home's residents were able to return home.

This nursing home also received a very impressive nursing grade. In that area, we awarded this facility a grade of A. In determining our nursing ratings, we analyze both the number of hours nurses spend with residents and the training levels of those nurses. This facility provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at 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 nursing home Colorado in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can often be prevented by offering better nursing care, such as employing a system of turning residents more frequently.

Finally, this facility also received excellent inspections in recent years. We awarded it one of our best grades in the area of inspections, with an A. Few nursing homes earned an A- or better in every category. Inspection scores are tied to items found on the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Places that receive favorable grades in this category typically have few deficiencies on their reports. Most importantly, these nursing homes generally do not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with endangerment of patients. Amazingly, this was one of the few nursing homes in the country that had no deficiencies whatsoever on its inspection report. This is very impressive. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.