Lawyer for Abuse & Neglect Claims at Aperion Care Wilmington

The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by the year 2020 there will a senior population of 56 million, and ten years later in 2030 that number will be as high as 74 million people. Of course, not everyone who goes into a nursing home is a long-term resident. Some people go to a nursing home after surgery for rehabilitation for a few weeks or a month. During that time, however, we should not have to worry about the quality of care our loved ones are being given. The industry of nursing homes and healthcare must be held to a high standard.

Unfortunately, due to low budgets, not enough staff, and facilities that are being stretched beyond their limits, worry is the top of the list when a loved one goes into a nursing home for any amount of time. At Levin & Perconti, we are vigilant in our research of nursing homes and their care violations. If you are armed with the knowledge of what is happening in the facility of your loved one, you can make well informed decisions about where they go for care. We also want you to know the signs of a problem if one should start happening with your loved one, and what you should do to fix it.

In the Midwest, one of the largest companies with the most nursing home facilities is Aperion Care. On medicare.gov, Aperion rates well overall, but specific facilities do have issues, including care of patients and staffing requirements. Looking at the specific nursing home is important, not just the parent company.

• Facility name: Aperion Care Wilmington
• Facility address: 555 WEST KAHLER WILMINGTON, IL 60481
• Facility phone: (815) 476-2200

Aperion Care Wilmington has 171 certified beds and advertises 24-hour skilled nursing care. They accept post hospital and rehabilitation care for patients and offer therapy 7 days per week. Aperion is on 9 acres and offers a beauty salon, cable TV, transportation services and a full calendar of planned activities for the patients.

The facility is rated below average on medicare.gov. The health inspection rating includes 8 citations and many of the residents were affected by these violations. The staffing is rated much below average. Though they advertise skilled nursing available 24 hours, each resident gets on average only 49 minutes per day. Each resident only receives three minutes per day of physical therapy. Some of the specific violations include:

6/22/2018 Failure to provide appropriate treatment and care according to orders, resident’s preferences and goals.

The facility failed to do proper wound treatment on a resident who was waiting for surgical wounds to heal in order to have another surgery performed to remove a hip replacement and fix an infected hip joint. The wound care order from the surgeon was not followed, and skin conditions worsened.

The resident also had incontinence, and needed help changing out of wet items. The nurse in charge was always alerted, but if the nurse was on a smoking break, the resident might be left to sit in the urine for 15-20 minutes until the nurse finished smoking. This left the residents skin reddened and bleeding. A topical skin barrier to help protect the skin during incontinence occurrences was ordered to be applied, but there is no evidence it was ever used.

4/10/2018 Failure to procure food from sources approved or considered satisfactory and store, prepare, distribute and serve food in accordance with professional standards.

The facility failed to meet proper food procedures in the kitchen. Upon inspection, the facility’s large mixer stood empty but with bits of food and other crust on and around it. There was a thick coat of grime on the toaster and the dial of the toaster.

There is only one ice machine in the entire facility and the ice scoop was covered in a grey substance and a white powder. There were bowls that the inspector was told were clean sitting upside down on a counter, but when turned over there was an oily substance on them. A wipe of a paper towel showed the substance came off but was the same orange color as the bowls.

12/22/2017 Failure to protect each resident from all types of abuse such as physical, mental, sexual abuse, physical punishment, and neglect by anybody.

A family member of one of the residents was visiting the facility. They had gone to an area where a refrigerator was to get something for their family member. They then witnessed a certified nurse aide kick a resident’s wheelchair and say that they need to chill the f– out. The resident whose chair was kicked was crying and upset.

The visitor confronted the certified nurse assistant who said she was sorry, she was just having a bad day. The visitor was highly upset and there was an argument. The certified nurse’s assistant was reported by multiple people as having an attitude problem and saying that the resident she had yelled at needed medical marijuana to chill out.