The Marshes of Skidaway Island

On top of being a first rate facility overall, this facility also excelled in the area of inspections, where it received an A+. Few facilities performed as well in this category. Inspection ratings are based on items found on the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Places that excel in this category typically have very few deficiencies on their reports. Most importantly, these places should not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with endangerment of patients. 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.

This nursing home also received an A+ long-term care grade, making it one of the few nursing homes to receive multiple A+ category scores. When facilities receive this kind of grade in this category it is a good sign for resident care and indicates that the nursing home is well-staffed with nurses aids. One of the statistics we considered in addition to nursing hours was vaccines. This facility provided the pneumonia vaccination to 100 percent of its patients. This is a great way to minimize negative health outcomes for the aged 65 and up population. Lastly, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. It had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

This nursing home also received an A+ nursing grade, making it one of the few nursing homes to receive multiple A+ category grades. The nursing score is based on many subcategories, but the main one is the level of nurse hours spent with patients. This nursing home provides 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality-based metrics and this facility 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 the nation in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can generally be prevented by providing better nursing care, such as employing a policy of moving patients more frequently.

The final category we rated was short-term care, where this facility was awarded a grade of A. This topped off a very favorable profile. Only a select few nursing homes earned an A- or higher in all four categories. Our short-term care ratings are arguably most critical for patients in need of a nursing home for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation generally requires more highly-skilled nursing services. This includes not just nursing, but also physical and respiratory therapy, as well as other forms of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home has registered nurses on staff. Not every facility employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, according to the data they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last measure we considered in this category is the number of residents who ultimately returned home from the facility. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.