Nurse

State inspectors are recommending that Medicare and Medicaid restrictions against Fountain Circle Health and Rehabilitation in Winchester be lifted. Beth Fisher, public information officer for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said in an e-mail that the inspector general determined during a Sept. 29 visit that “the facility was in substantial compliance on Sept. 23, 2011,” the deadline for improvement established after an earlier citation involving poor resident supervision.

A representative from the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency told county commissioners Wednesday that if corrections at Fountain Circle Health and Rehabilitation are not made by Dec. 31, the facility could lose its certification. “Often times, a facility will close,” said Executive Director Sherry Culp, who appeared at a Clark County Fiscal Court meeting. Commissioners voiced their concerns at a previous meeting and wanted an opportunity to address them. Winchester Mayor Ed Burtner also was present during the discussion.

A Winchester woman who has been arguing since March that she was wrongfully fired from a local nursing home will continue to receive unemployment benefits, despite claims of misconduct from her former employer. She recently filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Deshanna Baker has successfully defended two challenges from Fountain Circle Health and Rehabilitation Center that she provided poor patient care when she worked there as a licensed practical nurse.

Fountain Circle Health and Rehabilitation of Winchester was one of three Kentucky nursing home facilities recently added to a list of troubled facilities in the United States according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Fountain Circle was added to the Special Focus Facilities list in July after the facility was cited for two federal deficiencies in March, then on July 19, received a Type A citation, the most serious citation given by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services' Office of Inspector General, for a violation of state regulations.

Even after 54 years of service, JoEtta Paynter wasn’t sure she wanted to leave her job as a surgical nurse at Lexington’s St. Joseph Hospital. At 76-years-old, though, she decided it was time to do something else for a while. “Time to get out while you’re on top, so to speak,” Paynter said. After completing nurse’s training at Kentucky Baptist Hospital in 1957, Paynter began a career that would include jobs at Winchester’s old Guerrant Clinic, hospitals in Florida and Illinois, and St. Joseph.

On her first day as a nurse, Frances Russell, 79, entered a hospital where only white patients were admitted to the second floor. Her standard nurse’s uniform included an ironed white dress, pointed white cap and solid white stockings, and her basic utensils included glass thermometers and rubber gloves. Much has changed at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center since that day in October 1963, and Russell has witnessed it all — the technological revolution that changed the face of health care and the social revolution that changed the heart.

Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center will celebrate Certified Nurses Day Saturday by recognizing more than 40 nurses on staff for their professionalism, leadership, and commitment to excellence in patient care. Certified Nurses Day is set aside to honor nurses who contribute to better patient outcomes through national board certification in their specialty. A registered nurse license allows nurses to practice, but certification affirms advanced knowledge, skill, and practice to meet the ever-changing challenges of modern nursing.

Community Education, a program of the Clark County Public Schools, is offering two sessions of State Registered Nurse Aide Training. Saturday classes will begin March 5 and meet from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday/Thursday evening classes will begin March 21 and will meet from 5 to 9 p.m. Each session is 75 hours and will consist of classroom instruction and clinical time. Classes will be held at the Clark County Area Technology Center, 650 Boone Ave., Winchester.   Rhonda Gilmore, RN, is the instructor for both classes.

During a meeting of team leaders at Golden Living Center Friday morning, executive director Jennifer Thompson felt compelled to address a matter that had riled up the staff at the Stanford nursing home. “I told them we were not going to let this distract us from our mission,” Thompson said later. The staff at Golden Living Center was unhappy with an advertisement appearing in this week’s Interior Journal by the law firm Wilkes & McHugh listing 17 deficiencies found during inspections of the nursing home.

Nurses Sandy Lane and Carolyn Bottom work together, and they vacation together twice a year for two weeks at a time. They never have to debate where they’re going. For the last five years, it’s been Haiti. The vacation is anything but restful, but both the nurses for Heritage Hospice find it rewarding. It’s a chance to combine their nursing skills with their love of God. They board a yellow school bus, loaded with medical supplies and spend the days providing medical and spiritual care.