SAVANNAH, GA – Concerns over the quality of care for seniors at Georgia nursing homes were raised in a recent WTOC investigative report called ‘Bedside Betrayal’.
The neglect of residents at these homes is largely attributed to understaffing, as the report cites data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services showing that Georgia nursing homes have the nation’s fourth worst rate of staffing. Under federal regulations, each nursing home patient is required to receive 3.48 hours of care from a nurse each day. In Georgia, the facilities barely reach that level with 3.53 hours of daily care.
In the Savannah area, nursing homes have received at least 120 citations since the start of 2024 according to the state’s Department of Community Health, with many of the violations related to neglect and understaffing.
25 of the citations were given to Thunderbolt Health and Rehab Center, which was shut down in the beginning of July after losing its eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid funding. The citations included failing to properly prevent the spread of infections, and failing to provide care according to orders, which resulted in a patient’s death.
One resident, Barbara Butler, died after nine months at Thunderbolt as the result of an infected bedsore. She was originally admitted to the facility for rehab of a leg injury. Family members said Butler was neglected during her stay and that her death could have been prevented had she been turned enough to avoid bedsores.
“I don’t think she ever got therapy,” one of her sons, Keith Lester, told WTOC.
“She had a roommate, that could talk very well and she told us one day, she said, ‘I just want to tell you, they don’t take care of her,” says Brenda Thornton, Butler’s sister, who added, “All down throughout the whole medical report, it mentions, ‘Sepsis, sepsis, sepsis,’ throughout the whole thing.”
The case is another example of the effect of understaffing on resident care, according to Brian Krapf, a Savannah attorney specializing in nursing home abuse.
“The facilities simply do not have the number of employees necessary to adequately provide care and oversight to all residents as they should,” he said. “That is not a local problem. That is a problem with the corporations that run these places.”
A former nurse and eventual Director of Nursing at Thunderbolt Care Center, who spoke to WTOC Investigates anonymously as she still works in the field, said one of the main factors in the staffing problem is that employees are simply not paid enough.
“I had a lot of good employees and, that was one reason that they would leave, was pay. We just did not get a lot of applicants,” the former nursing director said. “When you don’t have a lot to choose from, you’re kind of stuck.”
“They have less employee benefits than a hotel maid, and they make the same money as a Burger King fry chef,” said Krapf.
Butler’s family pointed out that she had worked as a CNA at an area nursing home and was well aware of the conditions at some facilities.
“She never wanted to go into a nursing home. Her and my mother, because she didn’t like the way some of the staff treated patients, so she just never wanted to go there,” said Thornton.
Staffing Levels and Deficiencies
Understaffing is an all too common problem at many nursing homes and can often be an important factor contributing to the neglect of residents.
-In 2023, 26% of nursing facilities had serious deficiencies, up from 17% in 2015, potentially due to decreased staffing.
-The average hours of care per resident per day dropped 9% from 4.13 hours in 2015 to 3.77 hours in 2023.
-U.S. nursing homes were fined $153 million in 2023 for health violations, around $10,000 per facility.
-The most common citation (30%) was for not reporting suspected abuse or neglect promptly.
How We Can Help
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