Merry Wood Lodge Care and Rehabilitation Center
P O Box 130, Elmore AL 36025 · (334) 567-8484 · 78.95% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Merry Wood Lodge Care and Rehabilitation Center is a large facility located in Elmore, Alabama. With an overall grade of D, this is a lower end facility. This is not the worse facility we found, however, we would still be very reluctant to recommend it. If you aren't deterred by this place's profile, feel free to continue reading to find out about its category grades. We discuss nursing in the next section.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 124 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Nurse Quality
While we were not very complementary of this facility's overall grade, it actually received an impressive grade of A- in the area of nursing. Nursing ratings are tied to quality and quantity of nursing care. This nursing home provides 3.2 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This nursing home performed well in this area. Avoiding major falls is typically a good indicator that a place has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can many times be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.
Long-term Care Quality
We also gave this nursing home a solid score in the category of long-term care, where it received a C. In a long-term care environment, the facility's primary objective is to maintain patients' quality of life and keep them safe. Once we finished looking at the quantity of nursing care, we next considered the nursing home's vaccination record. This nursing home vaccinated 91.21813 percent of its residents against pneumonia. Nevertheless, this nursing home also excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. In fact, it had just 1.56 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days.
Short-term Care Quality
The next best category we gave this facility in any area came in the category of short-term care, where we awarded it a grade of C. Our short-term care grades are critical for patients looking for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation usually requires more highly-skilled nursing services. This includes a broad scope of services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. Unfortunately, we found that this place provided fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most other nursing homes. The key is determining what effect this had on the quality of care. The last measure we looked at in this area is the number of residents that eventually returned home from the facility. We found that just 35.6 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home.
Facility Inspections
Moving on the last category of inspections, this ended up being this nursing home's weakest link. Inspection scores are based on a facility's recent inspections. We gave this nursing home just a D in this category, which is not a very good grade. Inspection grades factor in many items on the nursing home's recent inspection reports. If you find too many deficiencies on the reports, this is typically the worst sign. Severe deficiencies indicate a risk to the well being of residents. This facility was hit with 2 deficiencies on its inspection report. The only positive thing we can say is that none of its deficiencies were in the categories that suggest that they created a risk to resident health or safety. Finally, we want to draw your attention to the fact that this nursing home received significant government fines exceeding $50,000. This often indicates that government inspectors became fed up after several years of bad inspections.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Merry Wood Lodge Care and Rehabilitation Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This datapoint is an indication of the percent of long-term patients which have pressure ulcers or bed sores. We factor in this statistic in computing our nursing grades.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This tells you the percent of long-term care residents which have suffered a fall which caused serious injury. We use this statistic in calculating our nursing grades.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This tells you the percent of patients that have had a urinary tract infection. UTI's are considered by many experts to be a barometer of nursing care . UTI's are often the result of poor nursing care. However, this metric could be misleading for some facilities due to inconsistent reporting standards for urinary tract infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percent of patients prescribed antipsychotic medications. Antipsychotic medications are given to patients for many medical conditions, such as dementia. Unfortunately, in some situations, excessive reliance on these medications may indicate that a nursing home is using these drugs to subdue residents.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This metric tells you the percentage of long-term residents who are given antianxiety medication. These drugs are commonly given to residents suffering from depression and anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This is the percentage of residents who are demonstrating signs of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This tells you the percentage of patients who have received 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 indicates the percentage of residents who required additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of needing for assistance with ADL's could indicate decline of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This metric tracks the percentage of long-term stay patients that were able to retain mobility.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This metric measures the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of patient care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This tells you the number of rehospitalizations per thousand days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This metric is a measure of the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This tells you the percentage of short-term patients that experienced functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. High levels of independence with ADL's typically correlates with successful rehabilitation.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better