Eddy Village Green received 22 citations for violations of public health code between 2017 and 2021, according to New York State Department of Health records accessed on July 15, 2021. The facility has also received four fines totaling $22,000 since 2016. The Cohoes nursing home’s citations resulted from a total of four inspections by state surveyors. The violations they describe include the following:
1. The nursing home did not adequately protect residents from accidents. Section 483.25 of the Federal Code requires nursing homes to provide residents with environments free of accident hazards and with adequate supervision and assistive devices to prevent avoidable accidents. A 2018 citation found a pattern of failures to prevent such by Eddy Village Green. The citation specifically describes one resident for whom adequate precautions were not taken to prevent elopement; a second resident who was not provided with “identification of the correct diet order to prevent the resident from choking“; and a third resident for whom the facility failed to “ensure the head of his bed was maintained at 45 degrees” in accordance with his physician’s orders. A plan of correction included the application of a wander tag to the first resident and the re-education of relevant staff.
2. The nursing home did not adequately prevent the unnecessary use of psychotropic medication. Section 483.45 of the Federal Code requires nursing homes to ensure that residents “who have not used psychotropic drugs are not given these drugs unless the medication is necessary to treat a specific condition as diagnosed and documented in the clinical record,” and that residents who use such medications are given gradual dose reductions and behavioral interventions to discontinue the use of the medications, except in cases where such efforts are clinically contraindicated. An October 2019 citation found that Eddy Village Green failed to ensure such. The citation states specifically that a resident was ordered a prescription anti-anxiety medication for more than 14 days “without a documented rationale from the attending physician or prescribing practitioner.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included an audit of all residents on similar medications.
3. The nursing home did not implement adequate infection-prevention measures. Under Section 483.80 of the Federal Code, nursing homes must endeavor to prevent the contraction and transmission of disease by creating an infection prevent and control program. A December 2020 citation found that Eddy Village Green failed to maintain such a program in a manner adequate to help prevent the development and transmission of Covid-19. The citation specifically states that in one of its 16 houses, the nursing home “did not ensure staff changed their gowns between residents after providing care to residents who were on contact and droplet precautions.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included staff education with emphasis on the appropriate times to don and doff PPE gowns.
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