Willowdale Village

One of the reasons this place ended up being a quality nursing home is it received an A+ in our inspections category. This is simply as good as it gets in this category. Arguably the most critical factor we look at in computing our inspection scores is deficiencies. These deficiencies are found on a nursing home's inspection reports. Nursing homes with higher grades in this category most likely dodged the most severe deficiencies involving health risks or even death. Although this facility had a few deficiencies on its inspection report, none of them were serious based on CMS' scale. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Additionally, this nursing home also was given favorable short-term care scores this year. In fact, we gave it one of our higher scores in that category, with a score of B+. In computing our short-term care ratings, we analyze the facility's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. Our objective is to devise a measure for comparing the rehabilitation services of nursing homes. Fortunately, it appear that this facility employs registered nurses. Not all facilities employs these types of nurses. However, based on the data they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final item we assessed in this area is the number of patients that ultimately were able to return home from the nursing home. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home as opposed to remaining at the nursing home on a permanent basis.

Turning to the third category, this facility also earned a score of B+ for its long-term care rating. This is an above average grade in this category. Long-term care scores in this range generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine medical care. Once we looked at the volume of care provided by nurses and other staff, we next considered the facility's vaccination statistics. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its patients for pneumonia. Vaccines are vital to keeping residents out of the hospital. Finally, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had only 0.01 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Turning to the next area, this nursing home was given a respectable nursing score. While this isn't as impressive as many of its other grades, this is still not a poor grade. There are many subcategories included in this category. Most of these factors relate to the quantity of nurse staffing. This place provided just 0.3 hours of nursing care per patient each day. This is a relatively low total compared to most nursing homes. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality measures. Although this facility got dinged a bit for nursing hours, it excelled in a few of these quality-based metrics. With fewer than five percent of its patients suffering from pressure ulcers, it did remarkably well in this subcategory. This is generally an indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can generally be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as employing a policy of turning a resident more frequently.