Community Care Center

Community Care Center, 4314 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, IL 60653

Community Care Center has 204 certified beds. The nursing facility is located in the Bronzeville neighborhood in Chicago’s south side. The facility rests just to east of Interstate 90 expressway. The overall rating for Community Care Center is much below average. The ownership is a for-profit partnership.

There was a report of a total of 13 health deficiencies based on health inspection summaries at Community Care Center. The Illinois Department of Health and Human Services conducts inspections of nursing facilities in Illinois approximately every 18 months. In one survey that was completed on September 24, 2015, it was found that the facility failed to display a posting of names, addresses and telephone numbers of state advocacy groups such as the State Ombudsman Program, the Protection and Advocacy Network, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and information on how to apply for Medicare and Medicaid benefits. This has the potential to affect all 178 residents in the facility.

On September 22, 2015, an environmental tour was conducted with the maintenance supervisor and housekeeping supervisor. All three floors, elevator and lobby did not have any documentation posted on the State Ombudsman Program, the Protection and Advocacy Network, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and information on how to apply for Medicare and Medicaid benefits. The administrator said that these notices should be posted in the lobby on the right side when one walks in. No postings were noted anywhere. It was stated by facility’s management that “We had some remodeling done. Maybe it got misplaced.”

Based on interviews and record review, Community Care Center failed to include a plan of corrections for their prior complaint investigation survey and annual certification survey in the survey binder. This has the potential to affect all of the residents in the facility.

On September 21, 2015 during the initial tour with a coordinator, a resident’s bed pillowcase had large areas of dark black stains covering the entire pillow case and dark black stains covering the bed’s linen. The certified nurse aide is responsible to change the resident’s linen and clean and label the urinals. The urinal in this resident’s room was not labeled with urine sitting on top of the resident’s bed table.

Based on observation, interview and record review, the facility failed to insure that precautions were taken for the safety of oxygen storage and the facility failed to provide coverings for light bulbs in resident bathrooms. This applied to 6 of 6 residents who reside on the third floor. During the initial tour, the first floor oxygen storage room did not adequately secure the oxygen tank. The tank was stored behind a loosely hanging metal chain which the nurse was able to easily tip over on its side. There was an oxygen storage rack with multiple spaces available to store additional tanks. The nurse on the tour explained that maybe the tank was empty.

On the same tour, it was observed that the facility failed to store and serve food under sanitary conditions, failed to maintain kitchen equipment in safe working condition, failed to properly store cold foods and failed to maintain manufacturer recommended concentration of chlorine sanitizing solution in the dishwasher. These failures had the potential to affect all of the residents in the facility.

In terms of the overall staffing rating, the Community Care Center was rated below average. As to registered nursing staffing, it was rated average. The registered nurse hours per resident per day was 26 minutes at Community Care Center whereas the Illinois average per day was 57 minutes. The average for LPN hours per resident per day was 48 minutes which was above the average for Illinois which was at 37 minutes. However, physical therapy staff hours per resident per day was just 2 minutes compared to 6 minutes for both the Illinois average and the national average.

Twenty-nine percent of short-stay residents who were re-hospitalized after a nursing home admission at Community Care Center was higher than the Illinois and national averages. The same could be said about the percentage of short-stay residents who have had an outpatient emergency department visit which was 13% of the residents at Community Care Center. There were no reports of short-stay residents with pressure ulcers that were new or worsened.

In a category new to the rating system was the percentage of long-stay residents whose ability to move independently worsened. At Community Care Center, that percentage was 32.1% which was nearly double the Illinois and national averages for that category. The same could be said about the percentage of long-stay residents whose need for help with daily activities has increased. At Community Care Center, that percentage was 28.1%. The Illinois average was 15.6% and the national average was 15.4%. The percentage of long-stay residents assessed and given, appropriately, the seasonal flu vaccine, was 79.5% of the residents at Community Care Center whereas the Illinois and national averages were considerably higher.

On September 24, 2015, Community Care Center was fined $3,640 for federal violations.

---