Symphony of South Shore

• Facility name: Symphony of South Shore
• Facility address: 2425 East 71st Street, Chicago, IL, 60649
• Facility phone: (773) 721-5000

Symphony of South Shore is a very large, 248-bed nursing home facility in Chicago, IL. This facility offers post-acute care and rehabilitation, as well as long term care. Their website advertises that their “guests” will feel like they are in a fine hotel, with an emphasis on tranquility and comfort. They are “one of the country’s most innovative leaders in post-acute care and management services… working to provide the best possible outcomes for our guests.”

Symphony of South Shore has had a whopping 45 complaints that had resulted in citations in the past three years. Some of these have included falls, insufficient diabetic care, and lack of proper skin check care (ulcer prevention) among others;

04/04/2018 Failure to provide appropriate treatment and care according to orders, resident’s preferences and goals. Failure to properly monitor and document blood glucose levels resulted in the hospitalization of a resident. Elevated blood glucose levels and a change to the residents mental status was noted, but no doctor was informed. After a few days, the resident was sent to the hospital with a diagnosis of acute diabetic ketoacidosis.

04/04/2018 Failure to honor the resident’s right to a dignified existence, self-determination, communication, and to exercise his or her rights. A resident room transfer occurred without letting the resident know what was happening and why. The resident was frustrated and confused by this. It was 5 or 6 days later that they were given the explanation that another resident required isolation.

01/25/2018 Failure to ensure services provided by the nursing facility meet professional standards of quality. The staff provided spotty and questionable documentation of skin checks (visual inspections checking for changes to the skin and documenting any new wounds.) The surveyor noted only two documented skin checks for a resident when reviewed electronically, and when requested in person, two more checks were entered. The entry dates on the newly appearing checks were the same day. The staff member was questioned and responded that she remembered those checks, they were done during showers.

04/23/2018 Failure to administer the facility in a manner that enables it to use its resources effectively and efficiently. Failures at the administrative level as well as maintenance level resulted in residents and water sources testing positive for Legionella bacteria. After this was determined, the facility failed to provide a timeline for working toward a solution to this problem, with the Director of nursing having been on staff for 3 weeks and had no information on the mater.