Strand-Kjorsvig Living Center

In addition to having a decent overall score, we also wanted to point out that this facility received favorable inspections in recent years. We awarded it one of our better grades in this area, with a B+. This is a notably better score than the facility's overall grade. Our inspection ratings weigh a host of factors found on a facility's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we weigh heavily is the number and severity of deficiencies. Places with better grades in this area usually have few severe deficiencies. While this facility had a few deficiencies on its inspection report, none were severe based on CMS' scale. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

This facility also received a positive grade in our long-term care category. We awarded this nursing home a better than average grade of B+ in that area. Nursing homes that receive this kind of grade in this category tend to provide consistent 24/7 care to ensure patients are kept in good health. On top of considering the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients, which is far higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

This facility's next highest category came in the area of short-term care. In that area, we gave this facility a grade of C. Our short-term care scores are considered to be most critical for individuals needing rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation generally mandates higher levels of skilled nursing services. This means not merely nursing, but also physical and speech therapy, as well as other forms of therapy. Fortunately, it looks like this facility employs registered nurses. Not every facility employs these types of nurses. However, based on the information this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final statistic we assessed in this area is the number of residents who ultimately returned home from the facility. We found that just 0 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home. This figure was below the national average.

The last category we scored is nursing. We awarded this facility a grade of D in nursing, rendering this its worst category grade. In computing our nursing grades, we weigh both staffing levels and the training levels of the nurses. This facility provided just 0.3 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis. This is not a very impressive figure. In addition to receiving below average marks for total nursing hours, this facility was a bit less impressive in some of the quality-based metrics we looked at in calculating our nursing scores. We looked at the percentage of residents sustaining pressure ulcers and found this facility was at roughly 150 percent of the national average in this statistic.