Northern Lakes Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Northern Lakes Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is one of only two available facilities in Angola, Indiana. We awarded it an overall grade of C, which is a middle of the pack rating. Based on our assessment, this place has some redeeming qualities. One of the best aspects of this nursing home's report card is its remarkable inspection rating, which is addressed in the next paragraph.

We want to draw your attention to the fact that this facility outperformed its overall score in the category of inspections. In fact, it received a nearly flawless government inspection report this year. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in this category with an A. Inspection scores are tied to items found on the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Facilities that excel in this area have few deficiencies on their reports. Most importantly, these places generally do not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with risks to patient safety. Sadly, this facility was assessed a category L deficiency, which was unexpected based on its inspection rating. This is the worst possible category of deficiencies. This category of deficiency indicates inspectors found a widespread deficiency placing patient safety or health in imminent danger. Even a single serious deficiency of this nature should be taken seriously. While other aspects of this nursing home's inspection report were favorable, we have some reservations.

One of the other reasons we rated this facility so highly is that it earned a very impressive nursing rating. This turned out to be its second best category grade. In that category, we gave this facility a grade of B. When determining our nursing scores, we look at both the number of hours nurses spend with residents and the training levels of the nurses. This nursing home provides 3.5 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 nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can typically be avoided if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.

This nursing home's second lowest score is short-term care, where it earned just a D in that area. This is a well below average grade. In determining our short-term care grades, we look at a facility's levels of skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists respiratory therapists and other highly trained professionals. This category is typically a fair assessment of the nursing home's rehabilitation services. Given its weak rating in this category, we weren't surprised to discover that this facility provides far fewer physical therapist and registered nurse hours per patient than most facilities. The last statistic we assessed in this area is the number of patients that eventually returned home from the facility. This facility struggled quite a bit in this metric as well, with just 44.5 percent of its patients returning home.

The final category we assessed was long-term care, is this nursing home's worst area. We awarded this nursing home a D in that area. In a long-term care setting, the facility's primary objective is to maintain residents' quality of life and keep them safe. After looking at the quantity of care provided by aids and other staff, we then analyzed the nursing home's vaccination statistics. This facility vaccinated 99.34426 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is better than most nursing homes. Surprisingly, this place was able to keep its residents out of the hospital. It had just 0.85 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. Sadly, some of its other scores in this category weren't as favorable as these.