Four recent deaths at Our Island Home nursing home in Nantucket, Massachusetts are being blamed on a respiratory virus typically found at day care centers. The patients ranged in age from 71 to 96 and all died over the span of one week. Officials at the nursing home say the virus is the most common cause of pneumonia among infants and children.
Why are nursing homes so poorly prepared to recognize and treat dangerous infections within their resident population? We see undiagnosed and untreated urinary tract infections, skin infections, MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, a type of super-bug that is resistant to certain antibiotics), and the list goes on and on.
If your father, mother, wife or husband gets sick in a nursing home make sure they see a doctor immediately. If the Medical Director of the facility will not see them, demand that your family member be taken to the family doctor or the local hospital emergency room for evaluation.
Don’t wait until it’s too late!