While most nursing homes in Connecticut provide residents with a high standard of care, the unfortunate fact is that instances of nursing home neglect and abuse still occur. For this reason, Connecticut has rules addressing the licensing and safety of nursing homes across the state. Therefore, it is important to understand how the state defines “nursing homes.”
Connecticut defines nursing homes for the purposes of regulating the health and safety of residents and licensing the individuals who operate and work in such facilities. The Public Health Code defines three different types of facilities as nursing homes in Section 19-13-D1 (b).
The first type of facility recognized as a nursing home under the health code is a “Chronic and Convalescent Nursing Home.” These facilities are for the long-term care of people with chronic diseases, or are convalescing from acute diseases or injuries. Such facilities carry out simple non-surgical medical care for their patients and have personnel available to provide skilled nursing care under medical supervision.
The second facility category in the code is that of “Residential Care Home.” These operations are designed to provide shelter, food and laundry services for individuals, as well as non-nursing aid, such as help with bathing, eating, dressing and supervising medications which the patients administer to themselves.
The third type of nursing home in Connecticut is called a “Rest Home With Nursing Supervision.” These facilities provide all the benefits of a Residential Care Home, along with the personnel necessary to provide 24-hour skilled nursing care under medical direction and supervision.
While most people likely think of elderly people when they think of nursing homes, it may be clear from the above categories that it is quite possible that people of various ages and with disparate health issues may require the services of such facilities. The important thing to remember is that, whatever the age, residents in nursing homes have the right to be free of abuse or neglect.
