Jefferson's Ferry

One of the many reasons this turned out to be a quality nursing home is that it received an A+ inspection grade. This is simply as good as it gets in this critical category. Inspection ratings weigh several factors included in a facility's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with higher grades in this category tend to have few severe deficiencies. 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. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

We also wanted to draw your attention to the fact that this facility was awarded a dominant score of A in our short-term care area. Our short-term care ratings are probably more critical for people requiring rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation typically mandates higher levels of highly-skilled nursing services. This includes not just nursing services, but also physical and respiratory therapy, as well as other variations of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this facility employs registered nurses. Not every facility employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, based on the data they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last metric we assessed in this category is the percentage of patients who eventually returned home from the facility. We found that 6 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

Among its many impressive grades, this facility received an excellent nursing grade. In fact, we gave it a grade of A in that category. Our nursing rating analyzes many components, however, the most important consideration is the number of nurse hours spent with patients. This particular nursing home provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at some nursing quality measures in determining our nursing grades. This facility performed very well when it comes to minimizing its residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We consider these areas to be good indicators of the quality of nursing care.

In the final category, this nursing home also was given an excellent long-term care rating, with a grade of A. This topped off a very favorable profile. Nursing homes that do well in long-term care tend to provide patients with closer supervision and stay on top of routine medical care. In addition to assessing the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility administered the vaccine to 100 percent of its residents, which is significantly higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low figure.