NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The New Mexico Department of Health dropped in unannounced on the weekend to more than 90 care facilities for the elderly in May, asking residents about their experiences. The result: nearly 90% need to shape up. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham held a news conference on Wednesday morning to go over the situation.
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“As we were staffing up and re-engaging the standards of care, COVID happened. Which means we were doing window visits, and gauging via the telephone family’s impressions from caring and supporting their loved ones using an iPad,” Lujan Grisham said, “Post-COVID, as we’re getting back in, we know that we don’t have enough personal aides, certified nurse aides, this is a high-risk environment.”
The weekend of May 17, a group of 42 people descended upon long-term care and assisted living facilities, as well as nursing homes, around the state—armed with questionnaires to see how these places were taking care of one of New Mexico’s most vulnerable populations.
“These were basic questions like, is the menu posted so people who live there know what they’re gonna eat? Are people clean and hygienic? Do things smell? Are there activities? Are people parking in wheelchairs in hallways with nothing to do? Are call lights being answered?” said Cabinet Secretary Patrick Allen, New Mexico Department of Health.
They targeted 91 facilities across 13 counties—approximately a third of the facilities in the state—and focused on places that had prior complaints. The results weren’t great.
“Nine out of ten failed some portion of these surveys. And again, these were not hyper-technical kinds of things. They were very basic standards,” Allen said. One in ten had residents in unhygienic conditions, and the same proportion were unclean. A quarter of the facilities had sub-optimal food. A third didn’t have required signage for residents about who was in charge.
Five facilities completely failed, three of which were in Albuquerque. Of the 91 facilities they visited: “There were 12 facilities that had perfect scores,” Allen said.
“These are people that need 24-hour care and support and the federal requirement for this level of care is that you should be getting better care and better outcomes living there than you would by yourself at home,” Lujan Grisham said. “Well I can tell you, that by and large, New Mexico does not meet that standard.”
There were two places in Albuquerque where serious problems were found, including one facility—Morada Albuquerque—briefly losing a resident and another—Las Palomas Center—leaving a resident in soiled clothes for 12 hours. In those cases, regulatory agencies were called in.
The governor said they will do whatever it takes to bring up the quality of care in the state. “Expect the state to be very engaged and to hold facilities and bad actors accountable,” Lujan Grisham said.
She says they need people to call the state if they’re experiencing problems at (866) 451-2901.
“Long gone are the days where we’re looking in the window; we’re coming in and we expect the conditions to be a hell of a lot better than they are today in New Mexico,” Lujan Grisham said.
The governor says the state also needs more volunteers and ombudsmen to help respond to complaints at these facilities. The state’s new Healthcare Authority—formerly the Human Services Department—will continue these unannounced visits.
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