How’s this for unconventional: The Ecumen chain of 15 Minnesota nursing homes has launched Project Awakenings, which calls for treating residents’ behavioral problems without resorting to antipsychotic drugs. The problems are real. Residents have physical and mental disorders, and they are often in pain, frightened, alone, and confused. In the worst cases, they react with violence (including biting or hitting), screaming, crying, moaning, and other troublesome behavior.

Typically, nursing facilities treat these disruptive residents by medicating them with antipsychotic medication. As reported by an article on StarTribune.com, to achieve peace, residents were often:

…drugged into a stupor — sleepy, lethargic, with little interest in food, activities and other people.

“You see that in just about any nursing home,” said Eva Lanigan, a nurse and resident care coordinator at Sunrise Home in Two Harbors, Minnesota. “But what kind of quality of life is that?”

Lanigan worked with experts and physicians to find a better way. Instead of treating (or over-treating) with drugs, Lanigan’s facility began treating residents with aromatherapy, massage, games, exercise, personal attention, better pain control, and other therapies. So revolutionary! So ridiculously simple!

Within six months, this new type of therapy went from “experimental” to “innovative.” Antipsychotic drugs were eliminated, and antidepressant use was cut by half.

The result, Lanigan said: “The chaos level is down, but the noise is up — the noise of people laughing, talking, much more engaged with life. It’s amazing.”

Now the home’s operator, Shoreview-based Ecumen, has started a project called Awakenings throughout its 15 long-term care nursing homes. It’s based on Lanigan’s work and funded with a two-year, $3.7 million state grant.

According to the article, doctors simply prescribe sedating drugs because it is the easiest, quickest way to achieve behavioral calm. And some nursing home owners say they can’t afford to replace drugs with personal attention because it requires too much staff time. That argument, however, doesn’t hold up.

“Our guess is that it will take the equivalent of two extra people at each home, spread across all job categories,” said Finn, Ecuman’s vice president. “Can we afford it? We think we have to, because it’s the right thing.”

Now weigh the cost of two employees agains- the more than $5 billion Medicare spends each year on antipsychotic drugs…at least half of which are prescribed inappropriately. But if it keeps the residents calm, what’s the big deal?

“There’s a bunch of problems, not least of which is those drugs can kill you,” said Dr. Mark Kunik at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston who spoke last month at the Gerontological Society of America’s annual meeting in New Orleans.

Even people with well-documented illnesses can be helped with the treatments of Project Awakenings.

“Whether you have Alzheimer’s or not, there’s a reason people get frustrated or upset — pain, urinary tract infections, hunger, fear of strangers or loud noises or strange settings, maybe drug interactions,” Kunik said. “If you figure that out, you likely can find a safer, nonpharmacologic treatment.”

What a brilliant idea this is! Lanigan should get nationwide recognition for taking the initiative to solve a problem that plagued the patients, the nursing home, and — by extension — all the rest of us through Medicare costs.

The attorneys of HensonFuerst look forward to the day when overmedicating difficult patients to the point of sedation is universally reviled. All it takes is a little compassion and empathy. If it were you…or your parents…or your brother, which treatment would you prefer? Pills that knock you out, cause side effects, and perhaps make your health worse? Or personalized attention, pain control, massage, and exercise programs that let you enjoy life once again? It’s a no-brainer.

Stories like this are why HensonFuerst Attorneys fight everyday for the rights of nursing home residents who may have been abused, neglected, or harmed by inappropriate treatment. We will continue to be the voice of nursing home residents who cannot yet speak for themselves.

If you suspect that someone you know has been the victim of any mistreatment in a nursing home, HensonFuerst is proud to offer dedicated nursing home abuse information on our website (http://www.lawmed.com/). And our attorneys are available by phone 24/7 at 1-800-4LAW-MED. If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

I don’t know what it is about December…maybe it’s the joyous holiday season, maybe it’s just an end-of-the-year need to balance the scales, but here is another feel-good story. This one is from StarTribune.com of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

In what is believed to be the first nursing-home vacation of its kind, 20 residents of Camden Care Center in Minneapolis packed up their 12 wheelchairs and eight walkers, flew to Miami and took a four-day cruise to the Bahamas.

Aww, nice, right? It gets even better: Camden Care Center paid for everything except personal purchases because Bob Letich, the owner/administrator, didn’t want finances to determine who could go on this trip of a lifetime…especially since most of the residents are on Medicaid.

According to reports, everyone had a great time.

“The staff was terrific, but kind of exhausted by the time we got back,” said LeRoy Arnold, 81. “They must be getting old. Me, I’m ready to go back.”

The cruise was such a success that they may go on a 7-day cruise next year, and there will probably be a summer vacation for residents at a resort in northern Minnesota.

It is so nice to be able to write about a nursing home that not only acts as a basic caretaker, but truly takes care of its residents…body, mind and soul.

To see photos of this cruise, click here:  www.startribune.com/a39

Every now and then, a story comes our way that makes us wish we could give out awards. Today, in the category of “It’s a Step in the Right Direction,” the winner is: Milwaukee, Minnesota for giving jail time to Karen Mason. This criminal was CEO, administrator, and part owner of Havenwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Milwaukee, which closed in 2005 after a raid by state and federal regulators. According to Milwaukee Magazine’s NewsBuzz, the regulators discovered that nursing home residents were denied baths and clean sheets, and one resident jumped to his death after staff failed to report his threats of suicide.

Mason pleaded guilty to felony charges of abuse and theft (she was accused of taking more than $1 million that was supposed to be used for patient care), and was sentenced to 15 months in jail. This week, she was sentenced to two years in federal prison for tax evasion.

As a firm that fights daily to see that nursing home residents are treated with care and respect, HensonFuerst is relieved to see justice served. We are certain that this former CEO is not the only nursing home owner to take these types of harmful liberties, and we look forward to the day when the elderly are no longer seen as easy targets for abuse. To read more about nursing home abuse, visit our Nursing Home Abuse web page.

Six young women are accused of groping and taunting seven residents at the Good Samaritan nursing home in Albert Lea, Minnesota, or witnessing the alleged events.  The teens, according to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, attended high school together and worked together at the nursing home.  Viewers to the HensonFuerst nursing home blog who oversee the care of others are reminded that it is their right to make inquiries concerning the criminal and psychological backgrounds of all caregivers.

Click to read Warren Wolfe’s story from the Star Tribune.  WARNING:  Graphic details of elder abuse are included in this story!

The Ohio Department of Health says it has identified three cases of salmonella in Portage County that are linked to the national outbreak linked to peanut butter products. In another case, involving the death of a nursing home patient in Minnesota, a large tub at the facility has been found to be contaminated with the same strain of salmonella which has sickened people throughout the United States.

Click to read the complete story from the website of WKYC-TV.