A 100 bed facility has a smell, not a very strong smell, but a definitely noticeable one. It permeates the entire facility. It smells a bit like urine and body odor. Is there a proven system that eliminates this smell? I am talking about elimination, not covering a up the smell with a scent(s), and would treat the entire facility.
Is there some kind system that can be installed or are there contractors who come in every so often and do something? I'm looking for a proven solution. One that has been used successfully in other similar size facilities.
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/amp/174839
Many who are in assisted living belong in a skilled nursing home simply because they:
1. refuse to shower daily.
2. Dont change their depends enough between incidents.
Me ex's aunt, an RN, owned a NH in SF. She had one employee whose only job was to mop the halls, all day long. Except when they messaged him to go to a room and mop THAT floor.
The place smelled immaculate.
We needed to place my mom, quickly, in a NH in Connecticut. My brother and I spent one weekend traipsing from place to place, 6 in total.
One was very highly recommended, best in terms of convenient location and beautiful. It smelled. The nurse who showed us around told us it was a one time thing, patient accident.
We visited an older place, a little out of the way, a bit shabby, but immaculate. No smell.
We re-visited the preferred place a day or two later. It still smelled.
We went with the shabby place. In 4 1/2 years, it NEVER smelled.
Now, I know your dad has been placed by your brother and it's not likely that brother (or dad) will want to hear any information from you. You may just need to wear a mask with some Vicks Vaporub on it.
Not bathing the ENTIRE body. esp the private area. Also, not getting their hair washed. Remember 'cradle cap' in your babies? It smells, and not pleasantly. Elders get that too. Washing and keeping the scalp really clean helps. The 'dry shampoos' really make that worse, so avoid using those. Dehydration also causes issues with smell. Also not brushing teeth well. All those 'daily' grooming things that get so hard to do when we age.
Wearing a depends way too long. Also, obviously, the 'spillage' of urine, feces and vomit add to the whole 'soup' of smells. Once a bed or upholstered item or carpet is soaked through with urine--getting that smell out is nearly impossible.
Sometimes, the smell of cooking is found to be pretty awful, too. Foods that are bland and are often overcooked and cooked in huge quantities can be not pleasant.
Cleaning all the above is important. Esp the carpets and bedding.
Sadly, that's easier said than done.
I'm a fan of bleach....I cleaned mom's place with diluted bleach on hard surfaces and if she'd overflowed her catheter bag, the floor and chair she was in was also cleaned with a product used for pet accidents. After mom passed and YB tore up the carpet, he said the sub-floor was still saturated with past 'accidents' and he had to paint down repeated layers of KILZ until the urine that had soaked into the subfloor was completely sealed off.
Multiply this by 30 or more and you have a real problem addressing the cleanliness factor.
Both my grandmother's were immaculate and smelled lovely, really, until death. Their homes were also clean and their clothing washed reguarly.
I'm finding that my DH, now he has retired, is not showering daily and not wiping well. He has chronic diarrhea and needs to shower & get that undercarriage cleaned better. I had a handheld shower head installed and told him he needed to hop in the showwer after his 'issues' and really get clean. He was deeply offended--and it was a hard conversation to have--but when the kids were saying that 'dad smells bad' I had to so SOMETHING. I do not want this house to smell like a NH!!!!
Bottom line--you have to clean before you can 'add on' other fragrances. Perosnally, I opt for a clean house over room sprays, etc. I will burn a lightly scented candle sometimes, but the best way to go is to clean.
And, yes, I realize that in a NH facility, that is practically impossible.
Eta, non-smelly one has 141 beds, smelly one has 100.
Insofar as what causes the odor, the bathroom accidents/non-bathing are large factors, but there are other issues as well. First, the temperature of the facility. My mom did her 3 post-hospital rehabs in a nursing home, and the place was always stiflingly hot. In the summer, no windows were ever open, and the few times the AC was on, the thermostat was at like, 80 degrees. And in the winter, the heat was blasting. High temperatures and no open ventilation lead to all sort of built-up smells, no matter how clean you try to keep something.
There is also the issue of all of the various medications the residents are on. Many medications change the smell of human waste, making it smell stronger and more unpleasant than "normal". And unfortunately, there's really nothing anyone can do about that. Even if you can keep every single resident on a bathroom schedule to the point where none of them need incontinence products, the smell will still drift out of the bathrooms.
I think if your dad's facility has 100 beds and has an odor that you describe as "not very strong, but noticeable", then they are doing their very best to keep the unpleasant odors to a minimum. Your question is valid, but I think this might be a case of your learning to ignore it as best you can.
Regarding body odor, I only know that they made sure deodorants and antiperspirants were used. This was a memory care unit too, so we saw many people come and go, and my Mom's clothing also came (some we had no idea where it came from) and went (don't know what happened to it). But folks, including us, left items (chux, furniture, clothing, wipes...) there to be used by others who could use it, including staff. Maybe they got rid of items that could not come clean. Maybe??
-Hire enough CNA staff so that anyone who pees or craps themselves gets changed immediately.
-Make it mandatory that every resident gets washed daily, gets showered a minimal of two or three times a week, and has to change clothes daily.
-Hire enough housekeeping staff that they clean continually. There should never be a time day or night when there isn't a cleaning person in the hallway collecting dirty laundry, wiping something down. or washing a floor.
Last but certainly not least.
-For God's sake these places need a ventilation system. They never have adequate ventilation. The air never circulates and fresh air is never let in. This is why it stinks.
That's a good point, and I was going to mention that, but better hotels have some major differences from assisting living places. Probably the biggest difference, and this is only my theory, is the frequency of accidents among a large percent of the occupants. Even if cleaned up properly the splashes of body fluids and food into hard to reach places builds up over times and permeates everything. That does not happen in a hotel. I wonder if there is some kind of system that "goes after" bacteria, the source of the odors, and eliminates it, at an economical cost.
I was a caregiver for 25 years. I do not need potential causes of stink explained to me by you.
Like I said. The AL I worked in never smelled. There was probably around 100 residents living there. It never smelled because they kept up on cleaning and maintenance. They also had a hygiene rule that was agreed to when a resident moves in.
They had to maintain personal cleanliness and hygiene and had to change their clothes regularly. Or they had to leave. If a resident needed help with personal care and dressing it was readily available to them.
Part of our facility (in a separate building) was memory care. That place rarely smelled and if it did the source of the stink was cleaned immediately.
It's all about good staff anywhere.
That's faulty logic. You were probably not, for example in enough places to experience places that were once not well cleaned but then sold to another operator who did clean well but the smell remained. This is because the original smell permeating everything - the floor, ceiling, walls, etc..
Can the permeating smells be removed?
In general, I agree with other comments that good personal hygiene and regular thorough cleaning are probably key to maintaining an odor-free environment, along with proper ventilation. Adequate staffing is basic and, of course, tends to reduce the NH/ALF/MC's profits so may not happen.
Of course, we are not (yet) in a facility, and that undoubtedly can present an entirely different set of conditions. I hope we "exit" before we have that experience.
So I flushed the toilets, opened the windows and sprayed my mother's favorite perfume every where, took out the trash and diapers. after a few hours it was much better. I think spraying Lysol(original)helps too.
Have a great day!