Aperion Care St. Elmo

221 East Cumberland
St Elmo, IL 62458
(618) 829-5581

Aperion Care St. Elmo is a small, 60 bed skilled nursing, short term rehabilitation, and physical therapy facility in St. Elmo, IL. They advertise physical, occupational, and speech therapies 7 days a week, with personalized care plans “ensuring you have a comfortable healing experience while you recover and prepare to return home.” Other amenities include a full-service salon, activities, a piano, and cable TV.

This facility is currently rated “average” overall by medicare.gov with much below average staffing numbers. Residents at Aperion Care St Elmo receive about half the physical therapy and RN care hours than the national average. Some of their latest care violations include:

06/27/2017 Failure to provide necessary care and services to maintain the highest well-being of each resident. The facility failed to properly assess a resident after a fall, resulting in an extended period of time elapsing before care was administered. The resident was found on her hands and knees at 7pm. Records indicate the fall was not reported to a nurse until the morning, at 7:30am. An LPN reported that when she went to get the resident up at 6:30am, her knee was swollen and she screamed when he leg was touched. An x-ray was ordered, and the resident was found to have sustained an impacted fracture to the middle/front of the tibia (bottom knee joint.)

05/24/2018 Failure to provide pharmaceutical services to meet the needs of each resident and employ or obtain the services of a licensed pharmacist. The facility failed to store, label, and properly administer medications for several residents. Medications were distributed to residents without ensuring they had taken them, some medications placed next to dinner plates. Several medicine cups were sitting on top of the cart, some labelled, some not.

The medication cart was left unlocked and out of sight of the LPN as she passed medications. Another set of cups were in the top drawer of the cart, some containing narcotics. At one point, the LPN found a stray pill in the cart and popped it in to a cup. Another cup with granules and 2 ½ pills was noted with just a first name written – when questioned, the LPN could not identify what all the medications were. At no point through the entire medication pass did the LPN cleanse or wash her hands. Medications are not to be pre-poured, and no residents of the facility should be administering their own medication.

05/24/2018 Failure to provide and implement an infection prevention and control program. Failure to take measures to prevent cross contamination were observed during the care of multiple residents This includes multiple instances of improper disinfection after using a glucose meter – the LPN did not wipe the meter down according to protocols. Multiple instances of care given without gloved hands. Incontinence care was administered, and then multiple items were touched with soiled, gloved hands.