St Joseph's Home for Elderly
140 Shepherd Lane, Totowa NJ 07512 · (973) 942-0300 · 98.04% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
St Joseph's Home for Elderly is the only facility we were able to find in Totowa, New Jersey. We awarded this nursing home an A overall grade, ranking it in the top fifth of all nursing homes in the nation. Based on our assessment, this place is simply as good as it gets. Keep reading to find this facility's category ratings, which are also quite good. It would be hard to poke holes in this nursing home's profile.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 41 Beds
CCRC :
Non profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
On top of receiving a great overall grade, this nursing home also received an A+ inspection grade. This is based on its recent inspection reports. An A+ in this area is one of the best complements we can offer a facility. These inspection grades weigh several factors, including deficiencies and substantiated complaints. You can learn more about each of these factors by obtaining copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. 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.
Nurse Quality
We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this facility received an impressive grade of A in our nursing category. Our nursing score is mostly associated with the nursing home's nurse staffing. This facility boasts a really impressive 4.5 hours of nursing care per resident each day, of which a significant percentage was provided by registered nurses. This is one of the most highly highly trained levels of nurses. On top of looking at levels of nursing care, we also looked at a few quality-based metrics in determining our nursing grades. These include minimizing residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We view these datapoints as predictive indicators of the quality of nursing care offered, since better care tends to reduce these problems.
Long-term Care Quality
This facility also was awarded a first-rate long-term care score. In fact, this ended up being this facility's third best category score. In that area, we awarded this facility a grade of A. Long-term care scores of this caliber generally require both 24/7 care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine healthcare services. After looking at the quantity of care provided by nurses and other staff, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination data. This nursing home vaccinated 96.27329 percent of its patients against pneumonia, which is more than the average nursing home. Lastly, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had only 0.76 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.
Short-term Care Quality
Switching gears to the next category, this facility received an extremely favorable short-term care rating. While this is not quite as dominant as many of its other scores, this is still one of our better scores a facility can receive. Our short-term care scores are probably more important for folks in need of rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation usually mandates additional highly-skilled nursing. This means not only nursing, but also physical and occupational therapy, as well as other types of therapy. This nursing home provided more physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than most nursing homes. Finally, we looked at the number of patients who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that 15.3 percent of this facility's residents returned home.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
St Joseph's Home for Elderly Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This indicates the percentage of residents who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are damage to the skin resulting from staying in one position for an excessive period of time.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This metric tells you the percentage of long-term stay patients who have suffered a fall leading to severe injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but high rates of falls resulting in injuries may be an indicator of lower quality nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This figure measures the percentage of long-term residents who suffered from urinary tract infections. UTI's could be an indication of a facility with worst hygiene practices. Nevertheless, this datapoint can be skewed for some facilities due to different reporting standards for urinary tract infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This figure gauges the percentage of long-term patients taking antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications play an important role in caring for many residents, it is important to make sure these drugs are being used only where medically required. In limited cases, excessive reliance on these medications may mean that a facility is using these medications to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percentage of patients who were given antianxiety medications. These drugs are generally used to treat patients experiencing anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This tells you the percentage of patients who are exhibiting depressive symptoms.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This metric measures the percentage of long-term care residents that were vaccinated against pneumonia and flu.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percent of patients that required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. High levels of dependence on staff for assistance with activities of daily living could be a sign of the erosion of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This metric measures the percent of long-term care residents who were able to retain mobility.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This metric tracks the number of times residents are hospitalized per 1,000 days of patient 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 thousand days of short-term care. There is a correlation between reduced hospitalizations and a nursing homes short-term rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better