The Willows at Fritz Farm

On top of being a first rate nursing home overall, this nursing home excelled in the area of inspections, where it received an A+. Few places fared this well in this category. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in calculating our inspection grades. One key factor is deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of deficiencies is usually more important than the quantity of deficiencies, as some deficiencies are quite insignificant. 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 facility also was given an A+ for its short-term care score. Short-term care grades are meaningful for prospective residents looking for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation generally mandates more skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing includes a broad range of services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, as well as other variations of therapy. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every nursing home employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, according to the data this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final statistic we considered in this area is the percentage of residents that who were able to eventually return home from the facility. We found that 6 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the nursing home on a permanent basis.

This first-rate facility also excelled in the area of nursing, where it received a grade of A+. Few nursing homes performed better in this area. We weighed the levels of nurses at the nursing home, in addition to the quantity of hours the nurses were with residents, in determining our rating in this area. This facility provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality measures and this place 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 state in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can many times be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as employing a system of turning a resident more often.

In the final category we scored, this facility received a very strong grade of A- in our long-term care category. With this grade, the nursing home finished off a straight A report card. Long-term care scores of this caliber generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine medical care. In addition to considering the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility administered the vaccine to 99.32886 percent of its residents. Vaccines are critical to keeping patients healthy. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. It had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.