CentraCare Monticello Care Center continues to get high marks for its commitment to serving the community.

 

Earlier this spring, it received one of the highest scores possible in a survey by the Minnesota Dept. of Health.

 

“Every long-term care facility has an annual survey,” says Joni Scott, director of nursing at CentraCare. “There’s about 535 items they can look at covered by state and federal regulations. Our annual inspection had three minor deficiencies.” 

 

Scott says typically, care facilities have six to eight deficiencies. And sometimes those deficiencies are about the level of care. But not in CentraCare’s case. It was more about paper reporting, and not about care.

Scott says the survey is an intensive three to four day inspection that covers every aspect of the facility.

 

“They check on all the direct care services we provide - Are folks living in a clean environment? Are they receiving prompt medical attention? Are they getting their medications as prescribed? Is physician notification taking place in a timely manner? Are there enough nursing staff to meet the need of the population? Do all the meals meet the expectations of the clients we serve?” she says. “Basically, anything we do or see or when we touch somebody, there’s probably a policy procedure and regulation behind it.”

 

There are generally four individuals from the state who show up unannounced and work eight hour days at the facility, monitoring, observing, and speaking to clients about their care.

 

 

Scott says CentraCare has begun transitioning the facility to more of a home-like setting.

 

“We’re more sensitive to people’s lifestyle patterns,”she says.

 

One example is a man who was a trucker his whole life. He’s awake all night because that’s the schedule he followed for most of his life. Scott says rather than force him to change his schedule, CentraCare is adapting to serve his needs.

 

“If I want to get up at three in the morning, I don’t want people tell me to go back to bed until six,” she says. “Or maybe housekeeping is coming in at 6:30 a.m. wanting to start vacuuming and cleaning and opening residents’ rooms. Would you do that at your house? So we’ve adjusted some of the tasks we do to be more sensitive to people’s schedules. It’s not about what we need to get done, it’s about how we can provide care.”

 

Scott says because it’s less disruptive, clients sleep better, eat better and feel better.

 

“If our folks are happy here, that definitely affects the outcome of the survey,” she says.

 

Because of its high marks, CentraCare Monticello became a Five-Star facility last April, and the recent survey only reinforced that rating.

 

“Only 10 percent of long-term care facilities are rated a five,” says Joni Pawelk, Director of Marketing for CentraCare. “Having one right here is certainly a benefit to our community.”

 

She says consumers can use the rating system to choose a facility for their loved ones.

 

“People can go online and compare care facilities. They can look at them based on how many stars they have,” she says. “Five stars - we’re certainly proud of that. It’s really a testament to the care that’s delivered here throughout the year.”