Letter to the Editor from Paul Liistro, Submitted to the CT Post Newspaper, March 16, 2013

Paul Liistro is Owner and CEO, Manchester Manor Health Care Center, Manchester, CT and President, Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities (Trade Association representing 170 Nursing Homes) Dear Editor, When bad things happen to good people, its a tragedy. While lapses in patient care are unintended and not tolerated, the impression from your papers March 15, 2013 article, Homes fined for care lapses was defamatory and misleading. The article created an image that could not be further from the daily care experience. You focused on 12 lapses in care. The states 230 nursing homes strive minute by minute to provide care for 27,000 patients. Many are short term patients following hospital stays, and most are longer term patients with chronic physical and cognitive impairments. Using continuous quality improvement programs, the industry has enhanced patient care by implementing resident focused care planning; using technology to capture better and timelier information; utilizing improved products and treatments which promote healing and prevent negative outcomes; employing new staffing techniques, e.g., consistent patient assignment; and, enhancing staff training. We measure our success daily by patients returning home, healed and ready to resume their lives; by the reduction of hospital readmissions; the reduction of unnecessary medications; by the thousands of families who recommend us to others; by survey results documenting high levels of patient satisfaction; by continued referrals of hospital discharge planners; and, by the ever increasing awards, acknowledgements and accreditations received by providers. Harm should never occur to a patient. When it does occur, a facility reports it to the state, conducts and internal investigation, has mechanisms to discipline the staff (including termination), addresses policies and procedures to ameliorate the condition, takes corrective actions to improve and monitor all future situations. We are professional, responsible and accountable. Perfection is hard to attain but it is the goal we seek. Your newspaper focused on the exception and not the rule. The decision to admit a loved one to a nursing home is a guilt filled realization that a family member can no longer be cared for at home. It is a tough, emotional decision. In fact, you succeeded in creating a negative aura of the long term care experience. Your article only made a difficult decision harder. Shame on you. Paul Liistro