Complaint·November 26, 2024

On the allegation " Staff does not respond to resident's call button in a timely manner"; it is the concern of the reporting party that residents experienced long wait times and on 09/11/23, Resident #1’s (R1’s) caregiver called out and they had no one to assist them for one and a half hours to get out of bed and dressed. It was further reported that R1 was up at 7:00 a.m. and called and no one came until 8:30 a.m. To investigate the allegation the LPA conducted a file review and interviews. A report of residents Personal Help Buttons (PHB) calls made between 09/10/2023 starting at 12:59:00 a.m. and ending on 09/11/23, 11:18:00 p.m. revealed that on 09/11/2023, R1 had a registered pendant call at 7:21:28 a.m. Per the report, R1 has two (2) different noted times for how long it took for the resident’s call to be answered; one being 29 minutes with 55 seconds and the second being 30 minutes and 9 seconds. The report also noted two reset times: 5 minutes with 45 seconds (which is how long it took the staff to reach the resident after claiming the call) and the second noted time being 35 minutes with 54 seconds (which is the total time from when the resident pressed their pendant to when the staff contacted the resident). Staff revealed that the “answer” times is how long it took the staff to claim the pendant call on their iPad, the reset time is when the resident is reached and the staff can reset the call, and the complete time is when the staff goes back and presses complete button on their iPad and would be the overall time it took the staff to complete the call. LPA Cortez conducted a phone interview with the Technical Support team from Phillips Lifeline, whose pendant system was used in the community in 2023. Tech Support revealed that whenever there is two different times reflecting under the “Answer” time, the bottom time is ultimately the time it took for staff to claim a call. Based on the information gathered, on 9/11/2023, at 7:21:28 a.m. it took staff 35 minutes and 54 seconds to reach R1 to assist them with their call. In addition, R1 had to wait to be assisted for over 15 minutes when pressing their pendant call in eight (8) out of nineteen (19) pendant calls made between 09/10/2023 starting at 12:59:00 a.m. and ending on 09/11/23, 11:18:00 p.m., with the highest wait time being 43 minutes and 34 seconds. Furthermore, the average reset time for residents noted on the report was 38 minutes and 12 seconds. Based on the information gathered through file review, the allegation Staff does not respond to resident's call button in a timely manner is deemed Substantiated at this time. Pursuant to Title 22, California Code of Regulations, the following deficiencies are cited (refer to LIC 9099-D). Exit interview conducted, appeal rights discussed, and a copy of this report issued.