SEPTEMBER 25, 2017 – via ALABAMA NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION (anha.org)
Employees of a south Alabama veterans home are celebrating another health care quality achievement.
William F. Green State Veterans Home in Bay Minette is “deficiency free” according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. “Deficiency free” means the center meets all the state and federal requirements for nursing homes. The staff takes pride in reaching this lofty goal.
“This is a very rare occurrence, and you could see the happiness on all of the staff’s faces when we told them,” Administrator Brian McFeely said. “It’s a very special feeling when an outside entity comes in and says, ‘you’re doing a good job.’”
The federal government requires annual inspections of all nursing homes. The inspection covers everything that took place in the nursing home over the course of the past year so it’s very difficult to earn “deficiency free” status. An Alabama Department of Public Health team consisting of two registered nurses and two social workers spent three days reviewing every part of the William F. Green State Veterans Home’s operations.
Brian McFeely
“The inspectors met with our veterans and asked if they had any concerns,” McFeely said as he described the inspection. “They met with family members, combed through all our medical charts, watched medication passes, observed meals being prepared and interviewed multiple staff members. They even observed all the care being given in one of our units.”
Nursing homes must follow a mind-boggling list of state and federal laws, rules and regulations covering everything from water temperature to medication safety to resident activities. McFeely says his staff strives every day to meet these regulations while keeping the main goal in mind.
“Everything we do is set to achieve excellence for our veterans,” McFeely said. “We don’t do it for the deficiency free survey, we want to provide excellent care and services for our veterans. It’s our way of thanking them for all the sacrifices they made for us.”
More accolades for William F. Green State Veterans Home
This “deficiency free” designation from the Alabama Department of Public Health is the latest accolade for William F. Green State Veterans Home. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs declared the home “deficiency free” on its federal veterans homes survey. The VA inspection measures veterans homes on 158 federal standards that are either met or not met. Earning a “deficiency free” survey means the veterans home met all 158 standards. The inspection was led by a team from the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Ascellon Corporation.
In addition, William F. Green State Veterans Home received the Pinnacle Customer Experience Award for achieving best-in-class customer satisfaction within its peer group. The award was based on interviews of veterans living at the home by Pinnacle Quality Insight.
