Federal Health Inspectors Cite Six Deficiencies at Waveny Care Center

Federal health officials found six deficiencies at Waveny Care Center during their most recent unannounced inspection of the Farm Road nursing home.

The deficiencies include the staff’s failure to ensure proper hydration of highly dependent residents as well as to address their dental and personal hygiene needs, according to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Up from the number of deficiencies cited in a 2015 inspection, the total of six at Waveny this year is still better than state and national averages, at 7.4 and 7.1, respectively, according to a report published this week.

The federal agency inspects nursing facilities each year. Two in the area—Lourdes Health Care Center in Wilton and Edgehill Health Center in Stamford—were cited for zero and five deficiencies, respectively. The Nathaniel Witherell in Greenwich was cited for five, Astoria Park in Bridgeport for seven.

Among the six deficiencies cited at the Waveny LifeCare Network facility following the June 23 inspection, four represent minimal harm or the potential for actual harm to residents, while two represent only the potential for minimal harm, according to agency, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Three “Quality Care Deficiencies” involve Waveny Care Center residents’ written plan of care, grooming and dental care (more on each below), while an “Environmental Deficiency” involved fluctuations in sink water temperature and exposure to cleaning chemicals.

Asked for a comment on behalf of the Waveny Care Center, registered nurse and Director of Nursing Claudia Katz said in a statement: “Surveys are a snapshot in time, whereas quality measures and CMS’s star rating reflect a nursing home’s overall performance. Our diligent and quick response to these minor findings maintained our 5-star rating, and Waveny remains one of only two nursing homes in Fairfield County to have a perfect 5-star rating across all of CMS’s ranking categories including health inspections, staffing and quality measures.”

Each of the deficiencies unearthed was corrected on July 31, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Here’s another layer of detail regarding each of the four more serious problems found:

• Provide care by qualified persons according to each resident’s written plan of care: Waveny Care Center failed to ensure that a highly dependent resident met a physician-recommended calorie count, and it turned out that the resident—already at risk for dehydration—“was not meeting his/her fluid goals, and/or that documentation on the [intake and output] form failed to indicate that a hydration assessment was completed when the resident did not meet their estimated fluid goal according to facility policy.”
• Assist those residents who need total help with eating/drinking, grooming and personal and oral hygiene: Staff members failed to keep clean and neat a cognitively impaired who was totally dependent on them for personal hygiene. Specifically, a “plum-sized area” of about one-quarter inch of white chin hair was seen on the resident over the course of two days, and the individual “should have been shaven with activities of daily living assistance.”
• Make sure that the nursing home area is free from accident hazards and risks and provides supervision to prevent avoidable accidents: Sink water in five different resident bathrooms fluctuated to higher-than-recommended temperatures (up to 130 degrees, against a recommended maximum of 120). Also, workers failed to lock a closet containing cleaning chemicals.
• Provide routine and 24-hour emergency dental care for each resident: Staffers failed to ensure the replacement an upper denture, as requested by the family member of a cognitively impaired resident who needs help with brushing teeth and is “totally dependent on staff for personal hygiene.”

Here’s a look at the most recent survey compared to past years’ inspections:

Waveny Care Center—Federal Health Inspections

Deficiency Category	6/23/16 inspection	5/28/15 inspection	8/7/14 inspection
Mistreatment	0	0	0
Quality Care	3	1	3
Resident Assessment	0	0	0
Resident Rights	2	1	2
Nutrition & Dietary	0	0	0
Pharmacy Service	0	0	0
Environmental	1	0	0
Administration	0	0	1

*Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

[Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with a statement issued by Waveny Care Center’s director of nursing.]