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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Shirley Freyer
Concordia Lutheran Ministries
Tel: 1-724-352-1571 x8266
sfreyer@concordialm.org

Concordia Participates in National Quality Campaign

Cabot, PA – Concordia Lutheran Ministries has joined nearly 300 nursing homes across Pennsylvania – and thousands across the nation – in a campaign aimed at improving the quality of care and quality of life for nursing home residents. 

The national, voluntary, two-year campaign, Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes, brings together long-term care providers, patient advocates, family members, consumers, health care professionals and state government agencies. Pennsylvania announced its participation in Advancing Excellence at a press conference Thursday, June 21, in Delaware County.

Concordia Vice President of Skilled Nursing and Rehab Charlene Kline said participation in the campaign is something she takes pride in.

“Concordia has always been committed to creating an environment of care that promotes excellence and person-centered care,” Klein said. “Joining this national campaign is just another step that we have taken to show our commitment to improving quality of care and quality of life for our residents. We all share the very important responsibility of creating high quality care for our country’s 1.5 million nursing home residents.”

To ensure that continuous quality improvement is comprehensive, sustainable and person-centered, Advancing Excellence offers these eight goals to participants who must adopt a minimum of three to participate: 

• Reducing high-risk pressure ulcers (bed sores)
• Reducing the use of daily restraints
• Improving pain management for long-term nursing home residents
• Improving pain management for short-term nursing home residents
• Enhancing family and resident satisfaction with the quality of care
• Establishing individual targets for improving quality
• Increasing staff retention
• Improving consistent assignment of nursing home staff, so that residents regularly receive care from the same caregivers.

Advancing Excellence is different from existing national quality initiatives in several respects. It encourages consumer involvement as an important aspect to achieving success. The campaign also acknowledges organizational culture elements, such as the critical role of consistent staffing assignments and resident and family satisfaction, in improving care.

The campaign comes at a critical time – the nation’s 77 million baby boomers will begin turning 65 in three years and the need for quality long-term care will dramatically escalate in the years that follow.

The quality improvement campaign is especially critical in Pennsylvania, which ranks third nationally in the percentage of population age 65 or older, behind Florida and West Virginia, and fourth in the number of residents age 85 or older --- a segment of the population that comprises the most intensive users of nursing home care. Nearly 70 percent of Pennsylvanians turning 65 this year eventually will require long-term care.