The WCCC Residents Council called a special meeting Thursday to air out grievances that several residents had against management and the board of the WCCC. Some of the problems involved process while others involved continued concerns about the viability of the home in the long term.
Resident Merle Foley, who ran the meeting, said that the first problem that residents had was the board and administration moving things around without consulting the Resident's Council. Specifically, she referred to the recent move of the birdcage from the front of the facility to the resident's room along with the possibility that the TV might be hung on the wall instead of placed on the ground. Foley said that having the birdcage in the front of the facility was a matter of creating good first impressions with vistors while another resident, Jerry Dignan, said that "the board only meets here two hours a month. The employees are here 40 hours a week, while we're here 24 hours a day, seven days a week" and that "these things should go through the Resident's Council." Another resident, Wendell Calhoon, said that there were a lot of people there who were incapacitated and that the WCCC should focus on getting them the specialized treatment that they needed instead of doing cosmetic changes. "We need specialized facilities for people who need assisted feeding, specialized care, and an encouraging environment," he said. And he said that placing the TV on the wall would be a bad idea, because "people might think that someone is around" because that is the way that they were wired.
The meeting was conducted with three staff members, Amanda Moyer, Ruth Allen, and Laurie Holmes, who sought to answer the residents' questions the best that they could. Moyer said that the TV had been donated and that nothing had been set in stone regarding its placement. She said that a lot of the changes that the facility was making were required by a new state mandate that requires all nursing homes to make cultural changes for the psychosocial well-being of the residents. She said that the paint job was "just the start," and that there would be more changes on the way. For instance, the Nursing Home is in the process of fixing a bathroom floor that is deteriorating and they are in the process of lining up a contractor who will come in and put a new floor in.
Dignan then asked about the pay status of the employees; Moyer said that the board had lifted the pay freeze that it had imposed at the height of the financial crisis and that everyone who had been there over a year had gotten a raise. Dignan protested the extended closed session that the board conducted at the start of their regular meeting last Wednesday, saying that the pay raises should have been voted on in public and that it was a violation of the Missouri Sunshine Law. Foley said that the closed session should have been done at the end of the meeting, instead, "the board scooted us all out and didn't get done until suppertime."
Rose Dilley then protested the removal of the bench to the activity room; Ruth Allen said that the reason it was removed was because the state felt that it would be too crowded to get people out in the event of an emergency. Calhoon responded that if that was such a big concern, that the dining area was overcrowded during meals, that the overcrowding problem has been there since before the present painting job was started, and that he had to have someone push him to where he wanted to go because of the crowding. Moyer said that part of the goal of the Nursing Home was to expand the dining area and that part of the reason for the crowding and the changes was because all of the residents were now eating together and that the dining area was being expanded to alleviate that crowding.
Returning to the discussion of the birdcage, Dignan said that he wanted to see the birdcage back to where it was while Calhoon said that he would be happy if it were moved out of the activity room; Rita Ware, a visitor to the meeting who has done extensive volunteer work for the facility, said that the birdcage was creating an odor problem. Another problem with the birdcage being in the activity room mentioned by the residents present was the inability of residents to hear the numbers during Bingo Nights at the Nursing Home. And Ware said that the Activity Room should not be used for storage because when the Activity Room was built, it was privately funded and it was built for the specific purpose of activities for the residents. Moyer said that most activities were now being held there except when there was a conflict.
Another issue that Calhoon brought up was the issue of personnel. He said that he wanted to board to figure out what staffing was required and what was not. For instance, Ware noted that at one point, they had one administrator, one nurse, and one secretary for the entire facility and that all 60 rooms were filled. And Dille noted that the facility was completely different from the time when her mother went to the facility in 1993. Since then, the facility has become a skilled nursing unit. When the WCCC became a Skilled Nursing Facility earlier this decade, it became a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have difficulties performing basic tasks associated with daily living. Eligible adults 18 or older can stay in a skilled nursing facility to receive physical, occupational, and other rehabilitative therapies following an accident or illness. That means that the facility has had to hire more staff in order to comply with stringent federal and state regulations. On the other hand, the fact that the WCCC is a Skilled Nursing Facility means that they participate in and are reimbursed by Medicare.
Dignan said that the WCCC employees were being underpaid by $2/hour compared to neighboring facilities and that was scaring off applicants to the WCCC. Calhoon said that on top of that, the WCCC was letting people go who had worked there for years. While most of the residents present agreed that the present staff was very understanding when it came to peoples' needs, Calhoon said that the facility could do much better. "We need to hire CNA's who are properly trained in how to deal with psychiatric conditions," he said. "We have only one such person on staff right now." Resident Maxine Roberts said that she was being treated very well by the staff. "I have no family here, and I couldn't ask for better treatment from the staff here," she said.
Dille said that one of her main concerns was communication between the residents and the staff. "I'm always asking questions from people who should know the answers, and they always give me the runaround," she said.
On a more positive note, residents agreed that the cooking had greatly improved since Laurie Holmes was hired to that position. Foley said that the cooks were very understanding of the needs of their patients and were willing to listen to them. For instance, diabetic patients have to have foods that are sugar free.
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