Generations at Elmwood Park

Generations at Elmwood Park is a nursing facility associated with BRIA Health Services. It specializes in skilled nursing, short-term rehabilitation, respiratory, memory, and hospice care. 

Even though it’s a large nursing home, it seems to fail at providing adequate care to its residents. Unfortunately for its residents and their family members, it has also been cited for abuse.

If someone you love has also been injured in this nursing home, it’s key to protect them and seek justice as quickly as possible. Contact one of our Illinois nursing home abuse lawyers today for a free consultation.

Quick Overview

• Facility Name: Generations at Elmwood Park (Also found under BRIA of Elmwood Park)
• Address: 7733 W. Grand Ave., Elmwood Park, Illinois 60707
• CMS Overall Rating: 1 out of 5 stars – Much Below Average
• CMS Health Inspection Rating: 1 out of 5 stars 
• CMS Staffing Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
• CMS Quality Measures Rating: 1 out of 5 stars 
• Federal Fines in Last 3 Years: 7 fines totaling $779,963
• Payment Denials by Medicare in the Last 3 Years: 3 denials
• Consumer Alert (if applicable): Yes, flagged for abuse citation
• Total Bed Capacity: 245
• Ownership Type: For Profit, Partnership

Facility Overview

Generations at Elmwood Park provides short-term rehabilitation, 24-hour nursing care, long-term care, and daily living assistance. It accepts both Medicare and Medicaid. The facility also offers specialized procedures, such as memory care for residents with dementia. 

However, 74 total deficiencies have been reported in the nursing home, including 5 infection-related deficiencies. There are also reports of failure to develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft and failure to provide adequate supervision. It’s worth noting that this center is not a part of a continuing care retirement community. 

CMS Ratings and Performance

CMS stands for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and rates nursing homes using a 5-star rating system. The three main criteria are health inspections, staffing, and quality measures, and this nursing home ranks poorly in all of them.

Generations at Elmwood Park has a 1-star overall rating from the CMS, considered much below average. It received 1 out of 5 stars for all three sources: health inspections, staffing, and quality measures.

Medicare shows that, on average, Illinois nursing homes have 12.4 health citations. In contrast, this nursing home has a deeply concerning total of 40. It also has fewer Registered Nurse hours per resident per day (26 minutes) compared to the state average of 43 minutes, with a 67.7% nurse turnover (the Illinois median is 48.6%).

The facility has been fined seven times in the last three years, totaling $779,963, and has had three Medicare payment denials, reflecting serious issues in maintaining compliance with federal standards.

Services Provided

The nursing home aims to offer comprehensive, high-quality care, including medical treatment, rehabilitation, long-term care, and respite care for when a family member needs to travel or focus on other aspects of life. Despite these aims, the nursing home has received more citations than the state and national average and ranks lower in each category.

However, the facility is still a resource for many people who need their family member to receive specialized nursing home care, as it offers different types of support:

• 24-Hour Nursing Care
• Dialysis
• Hospice Care
• Memory Care
• Occupational Therapy
• Physical Therapy
• Respiratory Care
• Wound Care
• Respite Care
• Speech Therapy

Violations and Citations

Nursing homes provide vital infrastructure that helps us care for elderly or ill family members. Understanding violations and citations is key to assessing if the home provides quality care for our loved ones.

Key Issues

This facility has received numerous citations for issues, including:

• Failure to prevent abuse, neglect, and theft
• Failure to respond appropriately to alleged violations
• Failure to provide safe and appropriate respiratory care
• Failure to ensure that a nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provide adequate supervision to prevent accidents
• Failure to honor the resident’s right to a dignified existence, self-determination, communication, and to exercise his or her rights
• Failure to provide enough staff to meet each resident’s needs

Specific Cases of Poor Care

Severe violations that put the residents at risk have been reported at Generations (or BRIA) at Elmwood Park. Here are some of them.

Failure to Prevent Abuse and Neglect: This includes severe cases like failing to prevent resident-on-resident sexual abuse, harm during respiratory therapy, failure to protect each resident from the wrongful use of their belongings or money, and failure to follow the nursing home abuse policy to conduct criminal background checks within 24 hours after admission of a new resident.

Quality of Life and Care Deficiency: The nursing home failed to follow its weight management policy, resulting in the patient’s severe unplanned weight loss of 24.5% within three months. The same report also shows a failure to provide safe, appropriate dialysis care. 

Medication Errors: The community was cited for medication errors, such as not administering pain medications as ordered and failing to ensure medication error rates were no more than 5%. During an inspection, the medication error rate was 12%, with a case of late administration. 

Infection Control Issues: The nursing home was cited for failing to properly care for patients with incontinence to prevent urinary infections and failing to provide and implement policies to prevent and control infections. Another example is the low 47.6% share of long-term care patients who needed and got a vaccine to prevent pneumonia, whereas the state average is 85.7%.

Regulatory Reports and Findings

This nursing home has faced significant regulatory challenges. It received 40 health citations, well above the state and national averages. The facility has also been fined seven times in the past three years and has had three Medicare payment denials. 

These penalties highlight ongoing issues in meeting health and safety standards, emphasizing the need to improve the facility’s care and compliance practices.

Impact on Residents

People who reside in nursing facilities have the right to proper care, a dignified existence, and protection from abuse. Given their vulnerability, each violation of their rights is a serious cause for concern. 

Health and Safety Concerns

Chronic understaffing at the facility has caused substantial delays in providing essential care, including late medication administration, failure to administer timely respiratory care, and poor ulcer care, which has already resulted in infection in one case in this nursing home. 

The concerns are related not only to health but also to resident safety. The nursing home had at least one case of sexual abuse, altercations ending in falls, and registered sex offenders admitted to the center without a criminal record check within the first 24 hours.

Emotional and Psychological Impact

The residents of any nursing home deserve emotional and psychological safety and a comfortable, home-like environment. Sadly, many of them have suffered psychological and emotional distress due to the poor care at this facility. For example, one resident noted that she received cold and uncomfortable showers, which caused her significant distress.

Common effects of nursing home abuse and neglect involve anxiety, depression, fearfulness, and feelings of isolation, which equally damage the patients’ overall health.

Case Examples

There have been several cases of family members seeking justice for their loved ones, including for poor ulcer care that led to infection. The Illinois Department of Public Health has also fined the nursing home several times for failing to provide adequate supervision and assistance and failing to implement resident care policies as stated in the 2023 2nd Quarterly Report.

In another case, a resident became agitated and fearful after a respiratory therapist treated him roughly. 

Legal Rights and Actions

All Generations (or BRIA) residents at Elmwood Park have the right to a safe, comfortable, and homelike environment and care according to their needs and preferences. When nursing homes fail to protect these rights, families and residents have legal options to defend themselves and receive compensation. They can file negligence lawsuits or abuse claims to hold the facility accountable for any harm caused.

At the Nursing Home Law Center, our experienced legal team is ready to help you navigate the legal process, gather crucial evidence, and safeguard your loved one’s rights.If you believe a family member has been abused or neglected in this nursing home, contact us today for a free consultation and take the first step toward justice.