Sixty percent of exterminators say they have treated nursing homes for bed bugs in the past year, which is up from 46% since 2013. Bed bugs are growing in number and frequency in nursing homes. Experts recommend washing all personal items, such as clothes, and even picture frames to eliminate them.

Recently there have been increased studies and statistics showing that about one third of nursing homes in America being rated relatively low on their overall quality. Each nursing home has annual inspections, which ultimately leads to a rating of one to five stars, one being the lowest and five being the highest, based on their facility’s quality. Findings show that a little over a third of nursing homes have received only one or two stars after inspections.

Recent audits of nursing homes in one area have uncovered two issues found in many nursing home, creating problems and worrying the nursing home community. These nursing homes are not reporting incidents of abuse and neglect when they should. After getting a complaint, nursing home staff is supposed to file it within a thirty day or sometimes sixty days’ time.

One state with mostly 1-2 star ratings makes it difficult for families to find a decent facility providing quality care to place their loved one. One family experienced this challenge when they placed their mother in a for-profit facility only to find her “lying there being eaten alive” by fire ants. The family had voiced concerns of a crack in the window.

A county is under a microscope after statistics were recognized showing this particular county to be the slowest in the state to investigate nursing home complaints. The average time for a count to investigate a complaint is 255 days, while this county takes 352. The county runs its own state inspections, unlike other counties that operate under the state health department.

Four men were found to be housed in unlivable conditions by a woman who solicited them on social media, charging $300-400 per month for them to stay. However, once they moved in they were not allowed to leave.  The men were living in the basement of the house in a tall crawl space suffering abuse.  The victims did not have access to bathrooms or food, and limited aces to water.