The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON -- Booker Rest Home received some gratifying news that quality of living for residents and the standards of service in the hospital are better than in previous years, accord- ing to a state survey earlier this month.

The surveys are used to de- termine the state of the health system's facilities and the quality of life of its customers. The results of the 2012 survey brought only five F-tags, a type of citation, which suggest quality of life improvements for the facility's residents, according to an email from Stephanie Carpenter, the nursing director for Booker Rest Home.

"The recent survey was wonderful," Carpenter said. "Compared to previous years, we had zero deficiencies from the fire marshal, which I don't think has ever happened before. On our long-term care survey, which is done annually, we only had five deficiencies."

Carpenter said they did not receive any citations at all in nursing services.

Interim CEO of Columbia County Health System Jon Smiley agreed the survey re- sults are good news for the staff.

"I think this is really tremendous," Smiley said. "The five points were rather mini- mal."

Smiley also added that the five citations are already be- ing addressed and the health system staff has already started working to eliminate the issues and some of the issues have been resolved since the cita- tions were issued.

This is more good news for the patients as well as the staff. The updates to the system mean the rest home can capture more reimbursement for the Medicaid residents while also improving the residents' stay.

"This means that from where we were last year and the year before, everyone is working really hard as a team to provide quality care and as much reimbursement as we can through the state," Carpenter said. "We are offering services to our residents, like restorative aid and (rehabilitation) programs, activities, one-on-one visits and even continental breakfasts in the morning to make the facility feel more like a home environment."