Photo Courtesy of Iowa Capital Dispatch
A local nursing home has been cited for nearly three dozen regulatory violations after an investigation into a resident’s death in September. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the Keota Health Care Center was the subject of a 174-page report issued by state inspectors. According to records, in September of 2024, the facility allegedly faxed information about a resident’s fall to a physician shortly after she was found. A response from that physician came two days later, and the resident’s health declined over the next two weeks before she was transferred to a hospital for stroke-like symptoms and diagnosed with a brain bleed. The resident passed away September 29th with the death certificate listing complications due to an accident fall. The report states the nursing home’s director of nursing told inspectors the woman should have been sent to an emergency room the day of the fall for the obvious head injury.
Beyond the initial infractions related to the death and the nursing home, other violations at the 26-resident facility included insufficient staffing levels, resident abuse, medication errors, quality of care, dietary services, infection control, and resident safety among others. Accounts from workers, residents, and visiting nurses given to inspectors describe residents “saturated in urine with a dirty brief on,” patients found lying in bed with a lunch plate, and food in a resident’s hair. Staff also allegedly made claims when confronted about unsanitary conditions that they were “too busy” to provide care.
Allegations of sexual abuse in the report included a resident with cognitive impairment being touched, grabbed and groped by a fellow resident, and another instance where a resident struck, grabbed, scratched and slapped three others. There were also allegations of abuse and resident injuries of unknown origin, despite one complaint from a resident being “handled roughly by at least one of the workers”. That resident was later diagnosed with a displaced upper arm fracture.
The Keota Health Care Center also could not provide documentation of a certified infection preventionist being employed there and operated with a 12% medication error rate, nearly three times the maximum allowable 4.9%. The nursing home faces fines of nearly $38,000 imposed by the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, though those are being withheld to determine if federal penalties will be imposed in their place. In state records, the listed owners of the Keota Health Care Center are Mission Health, based in Florida.