Poor Training Standards Led to Bad Care in N.H. Facility

A New Hampshire facility for people who have brain injuries is under scrutiny from the state for providing low-quality care to residents — the result of an under-trained direct-care staff, a third-party report found.

Governor Maggie Hassan (D) on December 15 ordered the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS) to stop placing patients at the Lakeview NeuroRehabilitation Center, an 88-bed facility in Effingham.

The announcement came several months after the Disability Rights Center, a nonprofit watchdog group, issued two reports which argued that Lakeview was guilty of numerous “pervasive deficiencies,” including “a lack of professional oversight, training, coordination of care, inadequate staffing levels, and lack of communication between and among Lakeview’s staff, residents’ families, and guardians.”

The reports alleged that these deficiencies led directly to the death of a 22-year-old male Lakeview resident.

Other residents are “subjected to substandard treatment and inadequate staffing which places them at risk of serious physical and emotional harm,” one of the reports stated.

Lakeview has submitted a “correction plan” to the state, which is currently under review by the DHHS.

— by Matthew Ozga