Newton PMMA achieves infection control survey excellence 2020

Newton Presbyterian Manor earned a zero-deficiency survey for a focused infection control survey in the health care center in November. The survey was conducted by the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Senior living communities are surveyed annually by their licensing agency for compliance of regulations established by CMS. CMS licenses skilled nursing facilities. These regulations are designed to ensure a standard of care is met. By meeting these standards, senior living communities are able to renew their licenses and continue to provide care.

The focused infection control surveys hone in on a skilled nursing facility’s adherence Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and CMS guidance for infection control practices to prevent disease at the community. Communities are assessed on staff and resident education on hand hygiene and coughing/sneezing etiquette, cleaning, screening of employees and residents, effective transmission-based precautions, proper use/discarding of personal protective equipment and signage at entrances and resident rooms. It also examines the facility’s policies and emergency preparedness related to a pandemic or outbreak.

CMS routinely sends surveyors to skilled nursing centers during an outbreak to assess the facility’s infection control practices. Newton Presbyterian Manor’s latest survey was completed November 17 with no deficiencies. The senior living community also had zero deficiencies during a focused infection control survey of the health care center in August and assisted living in July, making this the third zero deficiency survey in a row.

“A zero deficiency survey is always something to celebrate, because it is difficult to achieve,” said Marc Kessinger, executive director. “To have three zero deficiency surveys in the middle of fighting this pandemic really affirms how hard this team has worked to keep our residents and each other safe every day. You can do everything right, and still the virus can find a way into your community. But you must continue to fight, no matter what. That’s what we’re doing at Newton Presbyterian Manor.”

Newton Presbyterian Manor is a continuing care retirement community (CCRC), or life plan community, offering independent living, assisted living, memory care, long-term health care and short-term rehabilitation.

For more information about Newton Presbyterian Manor, contact Noelle Dickinson, marketing and sales director, at 316-283-5400 or ndickinson@pmma.org.

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