Unannounced inspections led to increased Medicare rating from four to five stars
By BECKY THOMAS
Staff Reporter
There are five stars next to Cheney Care Center on the Medicare Web site. The long row of blue stars is rare; only 25 of the 232 nursing homes in Washington earned the top rating this year.
Cheney Care Center executive director Keith Fauerso and director of nursing Carol Sands said the rating, up from four stars the last two years, comes thanks to the daily work of the staff at the facility. Sands wanted to credit the individuals rather than her leadership in the achievement.
“I think that we're all doing it right,” she said. “Yes, there has to be that leader but it's really those people that are there every day who make it happen. Our staff does a great job.”
The rating is based on unannounced inspections at the facility. Inspectors check for compliance with some 5,000 regulations on everything from cleanliness to quality of care to fire codes to the length of the grass in the lawn.
Cheney Care Center had two deficiencies in their inspection this year.
“Our goal is to be deficiency-free,” Fauerso said. “With 5,000 regulations, the reality is if they want to find something wrong they can.”
Fauerso said the inspections only point out the negative things, but the people who evaluated Cheney Care Center this year did point out some of the good things they saw.
“We get lots of compliments about the loving care that our staff give from people that we care for, the delicious meals that we serve and how friendly people are,” he said.
Fauerso thanked the staff for their consistently good work.
“I'm working on 22 years here and it's the best staff that we've had,” he said.
Becky Thomas can be reached at [email protected].
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