Safire Rehabilitation of Northtowns
2799 Sheridan Drive, Tonawanda NY 14150 · (716) 837-4466 · 91% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Safire Rehabilitation of Northtowns is the sole option we found in Tonawanda, New York. This is a relatively poor nursing home, with an overall grade of D. Based on our analysis, this facility likely isn't the best fit for most prospective residents. If you aren't deterred by this facility's profile, you can continue reading to learn more about its category grades. We discuss inspections in the next section.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 100 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Limited Liability company
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
Although we didn't rate this facility favorably overall, we actually gave it an excellent score in the category of inspections, where it earned an A. Perhaps the most important factor we consider in computing our inspection ratings is deficiencies. Deficiencies can be found on a facility's inspection reports. It is generally in your best interest to avoid facilities that have too many severe deficiencies. Fortunately, although this nursing home had some minor dings on its inspection report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those labeled as categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This tells you the government inspectors did not consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. A few minor deficiencies are not necessarily the end of the world.
Short-term Care Quality
We also gave this nursing home a decent grade in the area of short-term care, where we awarded it a C. Our short-term care ratings are probably most important for residents needing rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation typically mandates more skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing means not only nursing, but also physical and respiratory therapy, as well as other forms of therapy. One of this nursing home's strength is that it offers more hours of physical therapy per week to its residents. The last measure we assessed in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We discovered that just 40.7 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home, which is actually below average.
Nurse Quality
We were surprised to find that this facility also excelled in the category of nursing. In fact, we gave it a grade of D for that category, which is one of our best scores. Nursing grades are tied to levels of nurse staffing. This facility provided just 3.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is not a very impressive figure. Unfortunately, this place also had abysmal scores in some of the quality-based metrics to pair with its weak nursing hours. We looked at the percent of patients suffering pressure ulcers and we were very disappointed. This facility was at approximately 150 percent of the national average in this statistic.
Long-term Care Quality
The last area we analyzed is long-term care. Sadly, it received a lowly F in this area, which is a bottom of the barrel score. In a long-term care environment, the nursing home's primary goal is to maintain residents' quality of life and keep them safe. In addition to looking at the amount of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we also looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This nursing home provided the vaccine to 98.28767 percent of its patients, which is more than most nursing homes. Surprisingly, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. With just 1.64 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this facility has less hospitalizations than the average nursing home. Sadly, a few of its other scores in the category were not as favorable as these.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Safire Rehabilitation of Northtowns Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This indicates the percent of patients who suffered from a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are damage to the skin due to remaining in the same position for too long.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This indicates the percentage of patients that have had a major fall. Falls leading to serious injuries are often caused by lower quality nursing care. Closer supervision limits the number of major falls sustained by residents in a nursing home.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percent of residents who suffered from a urinary tract infection. UTI's are considered by many in the nursing home industry to be a barometer of nursing care . UTI's are often the result of a facility with lower levels of hygiene. Nevertheless, this datapoint could also be skewed for certain nursing homes due to different reporting standards for infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This measures the percentage of long-term patients that are given antipsychotic medication. Excessive reliance on these medications may mean that a nursing home is using these drugs to subdue residents in scenarios where such drugs aren't medically required. However, some facilities may need to rely more on these medications due to having more residents suffering from dementia.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term care patients taking antianxiety drugs.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
Measures the percent of long-term care patients demonstrating signs of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This indicates the percent of patients that received the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be the norm at this point.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
Measures the percentage of long-term care residents who required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as dressing and continence.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term care patients that retained mobility levels.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is the number of hospitalizations per 1,000 days of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This tells you the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This metric is a measure of the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per thousand days of short-term care. Avoiding medical emergencies is one way to assess patient well-being during rehabilitation.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This indicates the percent of short-term residents that experienced functional improvements, such as with activities of daily living.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better