Ever wanted to talk to someone from the Department of Health about how things work there? Well today, The Times Union Newspaper published an interview with Joyce Jowett, a local Health Systems Specialist from the State Department of Health. In the interview, she describes how a complaint is handled within her department. She currently manages nursing home investigations within an 18-county region. There are 75 nursing homes within the area. 

Jowett's team consists of 3 nursing home investigators. According to Jowett, her office does about 600 on-site investigations each year. Of these investigations, there about about two violations found a month. After a complaint comes into her office, each is prioritized according to probability of resident harm. If the risk of harm is high, her office must investigate the complaint within two days. Otherwise, they must investigate the complaint within ten days. 

Jowett's staff visits the facilities unannounced. This is most likely so that the nursing homes do not have the opportunity to hide any evidence that the complaint has merit. At the on-site investigation, Jowett's investigative team interviews staff, residents, and administrators, They also review medical records, and look into the facilities systems to determine whether they are adequate to provide healthy care to the resident.Jowett says that she receives a range of complaints, from " I lost my hearing aid" to abuse, to death.

For more information on this article or if you think that you or a loved on is suffering from nursing home abuse, please go to www.protectingpatientrights.com.