Manzella: It's a fact: County nursing homes are top-notch

It is rare that anything continues for 125 years anymore, but it shows how the citizens of Dunn County have compassion and dedication in caring for others. I am proud to be among the 34 administrators remaining that operate county nursing homes in Wisconsin.

During the past year I co-presented to the Wisconsin Counties Association's fall conference and also to their Human Services Committee. We provided our listeners a historical perspective on county homes and why it is important that we continue to support them.

The following are some facts about county homes you may not know:

County homes have better 5-star ratings from Medicare than other facilities.

County homes have better staffing than either nonprofit or for-profit nursing homes.

County homes have more RNs than other nursing home facilities. As a result, county homes have better quality of care than other facilities.

County homes have higher occupancy rates.

County homes have fewer deficiencies during our annual State Surveys.

Oftentimes, county homes take care of residents that some other facilities will not accept.

As I reviewed the history of county homes - particularly Dunn County, it struck me that many of my predecessors had the same issues concerning regulatory burdens, reimbursement issues, financial issues and political issues. However, since changing from a cost-based reimbursement system to a price-based system in 1998, the struggles have been greater to the point wherein today we find ourselves with a sad, new reputation of being in a state that has the worst reimbursement to nursing homes in the country.

I urge you to continue to contact your legislators and let them know that you want them to to support improved nursing home reimbursement. It is not too late to give them a call this week.

Otherwise, I want to thank all of our dedicated staff whether direct care workers or support staff - it results in 97 percent of our residents telling us we do a good to excellent job of providing them with the care and services they expect from us. In particular, I'd like to thank our Marketing Committee members, our maintenance and janitorial staff, public works, our Standing Committee members, and our County Board Chairman and County Manager.

We hope Dunn County will continue this tradition of providing "Generations of Caring" since 1892.

*Facts derived from 2015 Nursing Homes Consumer Information Report and information provided by Leading Age-WI, the nonprofit nursing home association in Wisconsin.