BELLEVILLE – A Belleville nursing home has been cited with an AA violation of the Nursing Home Care Act, meaning a condition or occurrence at the facility proximately caused the death of a resident.
St. Paul’s Senior Community, located at 1021 W. E. Street in Belleville, was cited with the most severe violation of the Nursing Home Care Act during the third quarter of 2024. The facility was fined $50,000.
According to the official report, a resident, nicknamed R2, required two people to assist her during sit to stand transfers. On April 11, 2024, one certified nursing assistant (CNA) was transferring the resident when R2’s weight shifted, which made the CNA fall backwards. A nurse heard shouting and ran to the CNA and resident. R2 was observed “down on one knee and the aide holding her up best she could.”
R2 was “immediately” assessed for injuries. The nurse discovered that the left femur seemed to have “a deformity” and the right thigh had “some swelling.”
The resident was transferred to the hospital, and the radiology report documents “acute significantly displaced and comminuted fracture of the mid left femur. Acute significantly fracture of the mid right femur.”
The CNA “stated that R2 is normally a 2 assist, but she has been working with her for months. She stated she has been transferring R2 by herself for a while.” The facility was not short-staffed and the CNA did not ask for help transferring the resident.
The resident died on April 14, 2024.
“On 4/17/24 at 12:47 p.m., V21, ER Physician, stated that the resident (R2) had very severe osteopenia and never would have survived surgery. He (V21) stated that he is unsure if the fractures contributed to her death, but it did not help,” the report reads. “On 4/17/24 at 2:08 p.m., V19, Medical Director stated that in his professional opinion the bilateral femur fractures contributed to R2’s death.”
St. Paul’s Senior Community did not respond to requests for comment.
