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Smoking ban raises problems for nursing homes
Ft Wayne.com ^ | Sep. 24, 2006

Posted on 09/26/2006 12:45:51 AM PDT by SheLion

Delaware County's ban on smoking in most work places has become a problem for some nursing homes, which are both work places for employees and homes for the residents.

The smoking ordinance does not prevent people from smoking in their homes, but it does ban smoking in most public buildings and work spaces.

If a nursing home bans smoking, they could lose federal funding for failing to comply with regulations, but if they allow smoking they could face fines or a lawsuit from the county health department, officials said.

Federal regulations state that if a nursing home changes its policy and bans smoking, it must create an appropriate area for current residents to continue smoking.

Robin Shackleford, a policy and research specialist for the Indiana Health Care Association, said nursing homes could jeopardize their Medicaid and Medicare funding if they follow the county's ban.

"This is not a health issue - it's a patients' rights issue," Shackleford said. "The facilities are caught in the middle of deciding which law to comply with."

To fix the problem, Delaware County commissioners have introduced an ordinance to exempt nursing homes from the smoking ban. But two of the three commissioners say they don't plan to approve the exemption when final action is taken on Oct. 2.

Commissioner Larry Crouch said smoking should not be allowed in nursing homes.

"How many people are in these nursing homes because of a smoking habit?" Crouch asked.


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
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The Anti Crusade Against The Elderly

(excerpt) The powerful and wealthy Robert Wood Johnson Foundation [RWJF], which receives virtually all its billions from stock ownership in pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, has been a big player and a major source of funding for anti-smoker programs and grants ever since Johnson & Johnson began to market nicotine replacement products. Basically, RWJF funds any study or program that will raise the price of cigarettes and promote the use of "cessation" products (such as J&J's Nicotrol). The foundation is also big on promoting smoking bans, no doubt in the hope that more smokers will try to quit smoking and purchase "nicotine replacement" products.

Not content with attempting to ban smoking in the workplace, in restaurants and bars, and on virtually all modes of public transportation, the anti-tobacco/pharmacological cartel is now campaigning to ban smoking in facilities for the elderly.

1 posted on 09/26/2006 12:45:54 AM PDT by SheLion
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To: Just another Joe; Madame Dufarge; Cantiloper; metesky; Judith Anne; lockjaw02; Mears; CSM; ...

2 posted on 09/26/2006 12:46:27 AM PDT by SheLion ("If you're legal, you can fly with the Eagle!" - Michael Anthony)
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To: SheLion
well, of all places to ban smoking, nursing homes would be right at the top of the list......

people are not well in nursing homes....they don't need smoke filtering around ....

plus, people WORK in nursing homes...unless you are prepared to pay untold millions and millions to workers required to be around smoke...

of course, you will say..." they can just get another job"...well, SOMEBODY has got to work in nursing homes.....its labor intensive you know.....

3 posted on 09/26/2006 12:55:32 AM PDT by cherry
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To: SheLion

One would think that federal regulations would trump county regulations. If the nursing home loses Medicaid and Medicare funding, it'll be a fairly empty nursing home.


4 posted on 09/26/2006 1:05:40 AM PDT by Outland (Socialism IS the enemy.)
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To: SheLion

This is what ya get when ya demand that the gummint micromanage every aspect of everybody's daily life:

"Everything that's not forbidden is required" translates to "Dam#ed if you do, and dam#ed if you don't"

The most dangerous phrase in the English language is still: "There oughtta be a law"...


5 posted on 09/26/2006 2:06:41 AM PDT by Uncle Ike (Stop the "tyranny of the 'offended' " -- say what you mean and stand by it!)
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To: SheLion
Wait until some geezer on oxygen set the place on fire with his cigarette and toasts 10 or 15 other geezers and you'll find out which law the nursing home management should have been following.

Disaster awaits, stay tuned.

6 posted on 09/26/2006 2:13:35 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (Free Sirhan Sirhan, after all, the bastard who killed Mary Jo Kopechne is walking around free)
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To: SheLion

It is dangerous to allow smoking. This should be a safety issue.


7 posted on 09/26/2006 2:54:54 AM PDT by Raycpa
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To: cherry

They have smoking lounges for the residents that smoke. It's not a safety issue and no one else in the nursing home has to be surrounded by smoke. It's ridiculous to tell these people they can't smoke in their own home because the nursing home is just that, their home.


8 posted on 09/26/2006 3:00:42 AM PDT by Elyse
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To: cherry
well, of all places to ban smoking, nursing homes would be right at the top of the list......

people are not well in nursing homes....they don't need smoke filtering around ....

plus, people WORK in nursing homes...unless you are prepared to pay untold millions and millions to workers required to be around smoke...

of course, you will say..." they can just get another job"...well, SOMEBODY has got to work in nursing homes.....its labor intensive you know.....

Well, you spew a lot of crock and you know it.

Many seniors that have to go to nursing homes aren't sick!  They might not be able to walk very well, etc, but not all of them are SICK!

And do you really want a senior who has smoked all of their adult lives to be cut off from something that they really enjoy?  If so, you are one cool babe!  I can't believe you actually think that the day a senior goes into a home, their quality of life should end.  Shame on you!

As for prissy nose nurses that don't want to be around smoke, what's wrong with having a room with a big fan and an open window for the smokers?  Many of the health care workers smoke as well.  And one of the smoking health care workers could keep the room clean.  Where there is a will there is a way.

But if I ever have to go to a nursing home, and they want to cut off my smoking JUST SHOOT ME!!

9 posted on 09/26/2006 4:04:09 AM PDT by SheLion ("If you're legal, you can fly with the Eagle!" - Michael Anthony)
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To: Elyse

I agree, I am not a smoker but if someone has to live out their days in a nursing home and they want to smoke I say let them....


10 posted on 09/26/2006 4:05:07 AM PDT by Kimmers
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To: Outland

One would think that federal regulations would trump county regulations. If the nursing home loses Medicaid and Medicare funding, it'll be a fairly empty nursing home.

You have THAT right!!!!!  For sure!


11 posted on 09/26/2006 4:05:31 AM PDT by SheLion ("If you're legal, you can fly with the Eagle!" - Michael Anthony)
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To: muir_redwoods
Wait until some geezer on oxygen set the place on fire with his cigarette and toasts 10 or 15 other geezers and you'll find out which law the nursing home management should have been following.

Disaster awaits, stay tuned.

I watch Trauma:  Life in the ER?  One segment show the EMT's bringing in an old woman.  She was on oxygen and tried to light a cigarette!

Her face was blackened and she had no eyebrows or eyelashes!  And they were really worried about her throat.  It was probably burnt all the way down.  The ER crew was contemplating a breathing tube.  Sad, huh?


12 posted on 09/26/2006 4:10:31 AM PDT by SheLion ("If you're legal, you can fly with the Eagle!" - Michael Anthony)
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To: Raycpa
It is dangerous to allow smoking. This should be a safety issue.

No comment ole resident Free Republic Anti-smoker................

13 posted on 09/26/2006 4:11:51 AM PDT by SheLion ("If you're legal, you can fly with the Eagle!" - Michael Anthony)
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To: Elyse; cherry; Raycpa

They have smoking lounges for the residents that smoke. It's not a safety issue and no one else in the nursing home has to be surrounded by smoke. It's ridiculous to tell these people they can't smoke in their own home because the nursing home is just that, their home.

Tell that to Raycpa, our resident Free Republic Anti Smoker.  He is one of the worst in here!


14 posted on 09/26/2006 4:13:47 AM PDT by SheLion ("If you're legal, you can fly with the Eagle!" - Michael Anthony)
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To: Outland

Nursing home should just fire everybody, close down, and put all the grannys and grampys on the street.


15 posted on 09/26/2006 4:17:37 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
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To: SheLion; Gabz
No comment ole resident Free Republic Anti-smoker.

Nothing brings out the nanny staters/socialists, quite like a "smoking thread" or a "Wal-Mart thread".

After all, they do know what's best for everybody.

I am at the point that I'm ready to quit debating them. It's difficult to debate somebody who already knows everything there is to know.

To Gabz: I haven't been able to respond to your pings for the last few days as my wife's brother passed away of cancer and a stroke. Sorry to disappoint the anti smokers too, because BIL James was a non smoker.

16 posted on 09/26/2006 4:23:44 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for SSgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: Graybeard58; Gabz; Raycpa
Nothing brings out the nanny staters/socialists, quite like a "smoking thread" or a "Wal-Mart thread".

After all, they do know what's best for everybody.

I am at the point that I'm ready to quit debating them. It's difficult to debate somebody who already knows everything there is to know.

To Gabz: I haven't been able to respond to your pings for the last few days as my wife's brother passed away of cancer and a stroke. Sorry to disappoint the anti smokers too, because BIL James was a non smoker.

I'm so sorry for your loss.  It's never easy.

On another note, you would not believe the anti-smokers we have in Free Republic.   A place where we are all supposed to be on the same side.  It really sickens me!  (I keep a list and I know exactly who they are!)

17 posted on 09/26/2006 4:29:56 AM PDT by SheLion ("If you're legal, you can fly with the Eagle!" - Michael Anthony)
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To: SheLion

I don't know how you can be anit-smoking and a free republican.

Its contradictory.

You may be a non-smoker but that is different!


18 posted on 09/26/2006 4:43:13 AM PDT by annelizly
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To: SheLion; Graybeard58; Gabz; Elyse; cherry

Most of the 300 to 350 seniors killed each year in cigarette fires die in private homes. But cigarettes also are the leading cause of fire deaths in institutions that care for seniors. A USA TODAY analysis of more than 100 fatal fires since 1999 in nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and senior housing shows that about 50% began with a cigarette.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-05-08-cigarettes-seniors_x.htm


Nursing home fined $100,000 in death
4th state accusation for Escondido facility
Jump to full article: San Diego (CA) Union-Tribune, 2006-02-23
Author: Cheryl Clark UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Intro:

An Escondido nursing home yesterday received the state's most serious citation and a $100,000 fine after a resident receiving oxygen was left alone while smoking a cigarette. He caught fire and burned to death.

It is the fourth state accusation in three years against the 98-bed facility, now named Palomar Heights Care Center.

A state health official said the man's death Jan. 11 is the second attributed to mismanagement by a California nursing home in at least a year.

"Even though the resident was advised he shouldn't be smoking while his oxygen was turned on, he wasn't wearing a flame-retardant apron as required and the attendant left him alone," said Anna Ramirez of the state Division of Licensing and Certification's coastal region, which includes San Diego County.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
USA
· California

Escondido nursing home slapped with $100,000 fine after smoking death - North County Times
Jump to full article: North County (CA) Times, 2006-02-23
Author: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer

Intro:

The state health department has slapped an Escondido nursing home with a $100,000 fine and a citation, officials announced Wednesday, weeks after a 66-year-old resident caught fire and died while hooked up to an oxygen tank and smoking outside the facility.

The California Department of Health's investigation into the Jan. 11 incident found Palomar Heights Care Center was responsible for the man's death, department spokeswoman Norma Arceo said. . . .

According to the written findings of state health investigators, the man caught fire and burned for six minutes before a worker noticed the flames. He appeared to be conscious at one point during the fire, and suffered extensive burns to his face, torso, arms and legs, the report states.

A nursing care facility worker told state investigators that he took the man outside for a smoke, and told him he'd be back to get him in 15 minutes. . . .

The investigation report states that the man, a smoker who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, was known by the nursing home to be "at risk for burning himself and others,"

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
USA
· California

Nursing home patient with oxygen tank ignites while smoking
Jump to full article: AP, 2006-01-13
Author: The Associated Press

Intro:

A nursing home patient with an oxygen tank burst into flames while smoking a cigarette and burned to death, authorities said.

The 67-year-old patient was sitting in his wheelchair just outside the front door of the Palomar Heights Care Center Wednesday night when he was suddenly engulfed in flames

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
USA
· California

Nursing home patient catches fire, dies, while smoking
Jump to full article: North County (CA) Times, 2006-01-13
Author: JO MORELAND - Staff Writer

Intro:

A patient in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank caught fire while smoking Wednesday night outside an Escondido nursing care center and died later, authorities said Thursday.

The death of the 67-year-old man, already being investigated by state licensing officials, was the second smoking-related fatality in two days in the Escondido area, and at least the third one this week in San Diego County.

Marsha Duran, 55, died Tuesday night after she became engulfed in flames while smoking a cigarette at her mother's Escondido-area home, officials said. The fire spread into the house and gutted it.

"It's unbelievable that these two tragedies occurred here just a day apart," Division Chief Mike Lowry of the Escondido Fire Department said Thursday. "It makes me wonder if there is anything we can do to educate and motivate smokers to be more careful."

The department issued a warning urging smokers to be cautious and recommending that they consider quitting, among other suggestions.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Smokefree Policies
· Aging/Elderly
· Hospitals/Medical facilities
USA
· Washington

• Nursing home fined for expelling smoker
Jump to full article: Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer, 2005-09-09
Author: ANGELA GALLOWAY SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Intro:

Regulators have fined a well-known Seattle nursing home for inappropriately expelling a patient to a homeless shelter for smoking just days after the state investigated the accidental burning of another resident.

On one day's notice, Bailey-Boushay House put a man in a taxicab bound for the shelter with a bag of medications and a manual wheelchair, according to investigators with the state Department of Social and Health Services.

The state said the facility failed to comply with the diabetic man's rights to assurance that the shelter could handle his "multiple, complex" health needs; neglected to give him written notice of his discharge and instructions for his care; and failed to provide an appeal process as required. DSHS fined Bailey-Boushay $3,000, the maximum allowed.

"How could they kick me out like that being how sick I am?" the man was quoted as asking investigators recently in documents that the state released Thursday.

Bailey-Boushay officials say the man was kicked out for endangering other patients by smoking in his room and common areas despite being repeatedly told to use designated areas. He is back at the facility, said Brian Knowles, executive director of the Madison Valley facility that is operated by Virginia Mason Medical Center. . . .

A few days before Bailey-Boushay kicked the man out on June 30, state officials completed an investigation that found the facility's residents were in "immediate jeopardy" after one patient was burned while smoking while using his oxygen tank.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
· Hospitals/Medical facilities
USA
· Ohio

Nursing home patient dies of burns; had cigarette lighter
Jump to full article: AP, 2005-06-03

Intro:

Police in Dyer, Indiana, continue to investigate the death of a 72-year-old nursing home patient with Alzheimer's disease who died of severe burns earlier this week.

Rodney Kenny Junior died Wednesday at the University of Chicago Hospitals from complications of burns that covered more than two-thirds of his body. The Cook County medical examiner ruled his death an accident.

Authorities say Kenny's clothing caught on fire while he was sitting in his wheelchair at the Recency Place nursing home's dining room on May 26th. The medical examiner's report said a cigarette lighter was found in Kenny's possession.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
· Hospitals/Medical facilities
International
· UK

Nursing home smoking room catches fire
Jump to full article: This is Lancashire (uk), 2005-03-16

Intro:

RESIDENTS and staff were evacuated after a fire at a Bury nursing home.

The outbreak in the smoking room of the Chestnut Court nursing home in Newton Street involved a carelessly discarded cigarette. Officers said the smoking material was in an ashtray near a window. Flames set fire to the curtains in the room and also caused damage to a wall.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
USA
· Michigan

Smoking blamed in fire death at Grand Haven nursing home
Jump to full article: AP, 2005-01-01

Intro:

The victim of yesterday's fire at Robinswood Assisted Living Facility in Grand Haven has been identified as Lucille Sabin.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
USA
· Wisconsin

Smoking Materials Blamed for Nursing Home Fire
Jump to full article: WBAY-TV Ch. 2 (Green Bay, WI), 2004-10-16

Intro:

Firefighters evacuated part of an Ashwaubenon nursing home Friday night after a fire broke out in a bedroom. The fire happened around 6:30 p.m. at Fairfield Elderly Home on West Main Avenue.

Firefighters say a small fire broke out in one of the rooms but the building's sprinkler system extinguished it right away. They say the fire was started accidentally by smoking materials.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
International
· Canada

Quebec nursing home fire kills two
Woman injured in mystery blaze
Jump to full article: Globe and Mail (ca), 2004-08-07
Author: TU THANH HA With a report from Canadian Press

Intro:

Two elderly men are dead and an elderly woman was badly burned in a late afternoon fire that raced through a nursing home in a small town near Montreal yesterday.

The blaze hit a long-term-care centre in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

The long-term-care facility Au Second Bonheur housed elderly people with limited mobility, some requiring wheelchairs, others with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease.

The cause of the blaze wasn't immediately known but rumours circulating among some local people suggested it might have started because someone was smoking in bed, setting a mattress on fire.

Other witnesses, however, were skeptical of that explanation

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
USA
· Connecticut

U.S. report: lax safety standards partly to blame for deadly nursing home fire
picks up pvs 16th graf bgng, "The report also cited..." srsharstfnyt
Jump to full article: AP, 2004-07-17
Author: Associated Press

Intro:

Lax fire safety standards and inaccurate information about fire drills contributed to a fire that killed 16 people at a Hartford nursing home last year, federal investigators have reported.

A report issued Friday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office also faulted the staff of the Greenwood Health Center for failing to properly apply the nursing home's fire response plan, particularly by not shutting doors to patients' rooms after the fire started. . . .

Authorities say the fire was set by a mentally disturbed patient, Lesley Andino, who was flicking a cigarette lighter to see if it worked. A blanket caught fire, starting the blaze.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
USA
· New York

State warned nursing home on poor supervision
Jump to full article: (Long Island, NY) Newsday, 2004-05-06
Author: MICHAEL ROTHFELD Staff Writer

Intro:

Three weeks ago, state health officials warned operators of the A. Holly Patterson Geriatric Center that residents were in "immediate jeopardy" because of substandard care and poor supervision, according to records obtained Wednesday by Newsday.

The 40-page findings -- which led the federal government to temporarily suspend Medicare and Medicaid payments for new residents to the troubled Uniondale center -- came after an unannounced visit by a state team of inspectors in April who documented widespread problems at the 889-bed center. . . .

State inspectors had found that residents repeatedly received burns to their skin or their clothing after falling asleep with lit cigarettes in their hands, either in their beds or in designated smoking areas. State health regulations prohibit residents from smoking in their rooms, and public smoking areas are required to be supervised. In several cases, they were not, health officials said.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
USA
· New York

Niagara County Nursing Home Fire
Jump to full article: WIVB.com (WIVB-TV, WNLO-TV) (Buffalo, NY), 2004-04-26

Intro:

Several Nurses helped save a woman from a burning Nursing Home in Niagara County over the weekend.

The fire broke out early Sunday morning in a room at the Northgate facility on Nash Road in Wheatfield. . . . an administrator tells News 4 a resident was smoking right around the time when the blaze broke out.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
USA
· Louisiana

Man suffers burns at nursing home
Jump to full article: New Orleans (LA) Times Picayune, 2004-04-04
Author: From staff reports

Intro:

A patient at an eastern New Orleans nursing home suffered burns on his face and chest Saturday after he caught fire while smoking and using an oxygen tank, the New Orleans Fire Department said.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
USA
· Massachusetts

Blaze forces partial evacuation of North Adams nursing home
'We have to make quick decisions'
Jump to full article: Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA), 2003-06-10
Author: Susan Bush / Berkshire Eagle Staff

Intro:

A late-morning blaze on the first floor of North Adams Commons caused the evacuation of first-floor residents and staff. . .

Fire Department Lt. Lawrence O'Brien said yesterday that the fire is still under investigation, but that preliminary findings indicate it was probably caused by a resident's smoking.

Fire Director Craig Rougeau said the fire most likely started after the woman lit a cigarette in her room, then left, believing it was extinguished. Rougeau said he was told by facility staff that smoking is not allowed in residents' rooms and that there is a designated smoking area for residents and staff.


· Aging/Elderly
USA
· Massachusetts

Cigarette fire forces evacuation of nursing home
Jump to full article: North Adams (MA) Transcript, 2003-06-10
Author: Karen Gardner / North Adams Transcript

Intro:

NORTH ADAMS -- For the second time in as many weeks, a fire broke out in an elderly housing facility Monday, but no one was hurt in this noontime blaze.

It appears that the fire -- as may have been the case with a fatal Ashland Street Apartment fire on May 27 -- was caused by an unattended cigarette.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
USA
· Connecticut

Woman Arrested for Conn. Nursing Home Fire
Jump to full article: AP, 2003-05-23
Author: MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer

Intro:

A woman charged with starting a nursing home fire that killed 16 people was arrested Thursday and ordered to undergo psychological testing to see if she is competent to stand trial.

• Leslie Andino, 23, is charged with 16 counts of arson murder and one count of third-degree arson. A pre-dawn fire Feb. 26 forced some patients into the piercing cold, many of them elderly and mentally handicapped. Ten people died that day and six more died later.

Andino told police she started the fire while lying in bed and flicking her lighter. Her legal guardian, Christopher Rossitti, said she suffers from multiple sclerosis, dementia and depression,

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
USA
· Connecticut

Investigators Say Nursing Home Blaze Was No Accident
Jump to full article: Hartford (CT) Courant, 2003-04-26
Author: MATT BURGARD, Courant Staff Writer

Intro:

Investigators have determined that the deadly Feb. 26 fire at a Hartford nursing home could not have started accidentally, contradicting the claims of a 23-year-old resident of the home who said that she sparked the blaze while playing with a cigarette lighter, sources close to the case say.

Lesley Andino, who has multiple sclerosis and a history of drug abuse and mental illness, told investigators that she was flicking a cigarette lighter in her bed when a spark accidentally ignited the sheets, setting off a fire blamed for 16 deaths.

But a computerized simulation of the fire by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms determined that the lighter flame would have had to have been in contact with the sheets for at least 30 seconds to a minute to set them afire

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Smokefree Policies
· Households
USA
· Connecticut

Nursing home officials consider sprinklers after fire
Jump to full article: AP, 2003-03-10
Author: Associated Press

Intro:

Officials at the Bridgeport Manor nursing home are considering installing sprinklers in the wake of a suspicious fire Saturday that sent 18 patients and employees to the hospital. . .

Bridgeport Manor officials and residents said there are strict rules against smoking inside the facility. Normally, Citron said, smoking is allowed only outside, though during a particularly harsh storm a room might be set aside.

Citron said the home might have to re-evaluate what items residents are allowed to possess.

"There is an issue about residents' rights and residents' choices," she said. "This is seen as their home."

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Smokefree Policies
· Aging/Elderly
USA
· Pennsylvania

East Briefs: OAKMONT: Nursing home fined
Jump to full article: Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, 2003-01-03

Intro:

The Beverly Healthcare-Oakmont nursing home has been fined $4,000 and put on a provisional license by the state, following an investigation into burns suffered by a resident who was smoking in bed.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health downgraded the facility's license retroactive to Nov. 1. Investigators said the Beverly home lacked the proper policies and supervision to assure safe smoking by a resident with cognitive impairment. . .

In its written response to the health department, Beverly Healthcare-Oakmont said it has since established a designated smoking area, set up procedures for storage and distribution of cigarettes and matches, and created a schedule of times during which smokers who are at risk can be monitored by staff.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
· Aging/Elderly
USA
· Pennsylvania

Monroeville nursing home gets downgrade
Jump to full article: Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, 2002-12-04
Author: Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Intro:

Jump to full article »
Categories
· Fires/Injuries
USA
· Iowa

Nursing home rejects plea for security tape
Jump to full article: Des Moines (IA) Register, 2002-07-25
Author: TOM ALEX / Register Staff Writer

Intro:

Authorities said a Des Moines nursing home refused Wednesday to turn over a surveillance tape that could show a resident being burned to death on the facility's patio.

Police Sgt. David Murillo said investigators asked for the tape to aid their investigation of a fire Tuesday at CLC University, 233 University Ave., where a partially paralyzed resident died after his cigarette apparently touched off an oxygen canister attached to his wheelchair. . .

Garrity said there is little doubt that an oxygen apparatus connected to Baker's wheelchair contributed to the flames. "You can't explain the extent of injury except with the oxygen," he said.

A package of cigarettes was found nearby, as well as one unsmoked cigarette. Rescue workers also found a lighter. . .

State regulations state that"smoking shall be prohibited in all rooms where oxygen is being administered." They also state that residents must receive "adequate supervision to ensure against hazard from self, others or elements in the environment."

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
USA
· Washington

Nursing home develops smoking policy after fatal fire
Jump to full article: AP, 2002-02-27

Intro:

GRANDVIEW -- A nursing home where a man burned to death outside can admit new patients now that it has developed a cigarette-smoking policy, the state Department of Social and Health Services said.

Grandview Health Care Center had been prohibited from accepting new federally subsidized patients since Robert Rattray was fatally burned Jan. 29. The state lifted the ban Monday.

Rattray, a 56-year-old smoker and cancer patient, was sitting in his wheelchair outside the nursing home when a seizure rendered him unconscious. He suffered fatal burns, although investigators never determined the specific cause of the fire. The Yakima County coroner classified the death as accidental.

Afterward, DSHS said the nursing home's lack of a smoking policy posed a risk to patients.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
USA
· Virginia

Changes earn nursing home a passing grade / Health department had found deficiencies at Avante at Roanoke
The administrator, director of nursing and head of housekeeping were replaced.
Jump to full article: Roanoke (VA) Times & World News, 2001-10-02
Author: JEFF STURGEON / THE ROANOKE TIMES

Intro:

The state Department of Health last month said it found numerous deficiencies in June at Avante at Roanoke while investigating a complaint. According to the investigation report, the home had inadequate measures to supervise smokers, control infections, and prevent and treat pressure sores. . .

The most serious allegation concerned inadequate supervision of smokers, which led to one resident being burned , the report said. Byron said the resident had been told she could not smoke alone . When she was burned, she was smoking at an unauthorized time a cigarette given to her by her son, Byron said.

The nursing home moved all smoking outside, established smoke breaks except during meals, and determined that only two residents can smoke safely alone. The rest will be supervised, Byron said. The home also increased its supply of smoking aprons, flame-retardant smocks for the protection of smokers.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
USA
· Wisconsin

Nursing home violations rise
Life-threatening problems at some long-term centers worry state officials
Jump to full article: Milwaukee (WI) Journal-Sentinel, 2001-04-07
Author: STEVEN WALTERS / of the Journal Sentinel staff

Intro:

The number of citizen complaints filed against nursing homes jumped 88% from 1996 to 2000, according to the state Board on Aging and Long Term Care. . .

A critically ill cancer patient at the Ladysmith Nursing Home demanded to be allowed to smoke, but an aide who lighted his cigarette on Jan. 20 failed to completely remove an oxygen container from the patient's wheelchair.

Minutes later, the patient's face was on fire . .

Since the accident, the Ladysmith home has become smoke-free except for one final resident who smokes, Witt said.

When asked to review some of the immediate-jeopardy violation reports, state Sen. Judy Robson (D-Beloit), a nurse whose specialty is caring for senior citizens, said the Ladysmith smoking incident "chilled" her the most because it could have turned the home into an inferno.

"That violated not just basic nursing procedures, but the fire code as well," Robson said of the Ladysmith incident.

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
USA
· Indiana

Only AIDS nursing home in state is forced to close
Funding problems, exacerbated by fines and other factors, prove too much for Parkview.
Jump to full article: Indianapolis (IN) Star, 2001-02-28
Author: Diana Penner and Michael J. Rochon

Intro:

Indiana's only nursing home for people with AIDS will close by Friday because of financial pressures and operating problems, forcing 17 patients to find new homes.

The decision to close Parkview Care Center, 2424 E. 46th St., was announced Tuesday, three days after a good portion of the home's board of directors resigned and about a month after a patient died of burns he suffered after dropping a cigarette on his clothes.

That death triggered a state inspection that resulted in fines levied on Parkview. While that hurt the situation, it was not the reason the nursing home is being closed, said the Rev. Judith Carson, president of Parkview Hospice Corp., which owns the home.

"The bottom line is financial. We just don't have the money," she said. "We were going on blind faith, and we got a sharp stick in the eye."

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Categories
· Fires/Injuries
USA
· New York

Smoking Suspected In Nursing Home Fire
Jump to full article: Digital City, 2000-08-28

Intro:

Niagara County fire investigators now believe careless smoking may have been responsible for Saturday night's fire at the Heritage Manor Nursing Home in the Town of Porter. The fire was confined to the area of the room in which it started and an adjacent hallway. However, the entire building sustained heavy smoke damage, and it may be several weeks before Heritage Manor can reopen.



http://www.tobacco.org/articles/category/fires/?code=fires&pattern=%22nursing+home%22


19 posted on 09/26/2006 4:55:30 AM PDT by Raycpa
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To: Raycpa

Around here, when people are incarcerated in nursing homes the institution takes over their benefits and they don't have any money for gum, cigarettes, or anything else. Then the local docs begin their parades through, whereby they bill everyone in the place in one fell swoop. Podiatritists and Psychiatrists are known offenders. People can't have what they want. Instead they are exploited by that great euphemism, "health care."


20 posted on 09/26/2006 5:07:42 AM PDT by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
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