Complaint Investigation Report

On 11/26/2024, LPA Cortez, starting at 1:00 p.m., conducted four (4) resident and two (2) staff interviews. On 12/02/2024, LPA Cortez, starting between 11:40 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. the LPA conducted two (2) staff and five (5) resident interviews and obtained copies of resident records and other pertinent documents relevant to the investigation. 12/13/2024, LPA Cortez, between 01:00 p.m. and 4:15 p.m., the LPA interviewed two (2) staff, conducted a file review, and obtained copies of resident records and other pertinent documents relevant to the investigation. On 12/16/2024, LPA Cortez, between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., conducted five (5) staff interviews and obtained copies of pertinent documents relevant to the investigation.

On the allegation "Facility does not have adequate staffing to assist resident with care needs"; it is the concern of the reporting party that there is not enough staff on shifts. It was further reported that on 09/11/2023, Resident 1 (R1) was up at 7:00 a.m., called, and had no one to assist them for one and a half hours to get out of bed and dressed until someone went at 8:30 a.m. To investigate the allegation the LPA conducted a file review and interviews.

A report of residents Personal Help Buttons (PHB) calls made between 09/10/2023 starting at 12:59 a.m. and ending on 09/11/2023, 11:18 p.m. revealed that on 09/11/2023, R1 had a registered pendant call at 7:21 a.m. Per the report, it took staff 35 minutes and 54 seconds to reach R1 to assist them with their call. In addition, R1 had to wait for over 15 minutes when pressing their pendant call in eight (8) out of nineteen (19) pendant calls made between 09/10/2023 and 09/11/2023, with the highest wait time being 43 minutes and 34 seconds. Furthermore, the average wait time for the residents to be assisted noted on the report was 38 minutes and 12 seconds.

Interviews conducted with staff revealed that a full staffed morning shift is four (4) caregivers and (2) MedTechs (MT) in Assisted Living and three (3) caregivers and one (1) MT in Memory Care. Six (6) out of eight (8) staff that were working at the community during 2023, recall or have knowledge of the community being understaffed, including in September of 2023 during the time the complaint was submitted. A staff revealed that there has been plenty of times that there have only been two (2) staff on the floor, they further revealed that there was one shift where they were the only staff in all four (4) floors in Assisted Living.