Nursing homes rank high

By Staff
Leada DeVaney, Hartselle Enquirer
Two area nursing homes fared well in Medicaid and Medicare's recent survey of such healthcare facilities.
Falkville Nursing Home and Summerford Nursing Home both received better-than-average marks on the Medicare nursing home survey. The survey compares things such as the percent of residents with pressure sores, urinary incontinence and other health-related issues, as well as the number of beds, the number of healthcare workers at the facility and summary information from the nursing home's last state inspection.
Falkville Nursing Home had lower-than-average percentages of patients with health-related problems such as bed sores, residents with pain and residents suffering from dimentia.
" We try to provide good resident care," Wilkes said. "Those marks are an indicator that we work hard to provide this. These marks are a comparison to the nursing homes in the state and can be used as in the tools to choosing a nursing home."
Falkville Nursing home also reported 53 percent of its patients can walk, compared to 29 percent of nursing home patients statewide.
The high marks are the result of hard work by the staff, according to nursing home administrator Diane Wilkes.
Summerford Nursing Home, also in Falkville, also scored well in the survey. Summerford Nursing home scored better than the state and national average in every category.
Summerford Nursing home reported 31 percent of its patients can walk, compared to 29 percent statewide and 30 percent nationwide.