AG 2005 08 15 - Laserfiche WebLink

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with management from each of these adult care homes, but none would speak with him, except Anita Jones regarding Concord Retirement Center. Our staff have been dealing with the situations in these homes on an ongoing basis, and informing the Division of Facility Services of compliance problems as they have occurred. At this point, however, it is not apparent that Facility Services has been able to bring about the kind of improvements needed. Samplings of some of the incidents our staff have documented and reported are as follows: 1. Residents from Concord Retirement Center leaving the facility in wheelchairs, without staff knowledge and being located riding these wheelchairs down a busy 4-lane highway (Highway 29/Concord Parkway) miles from the facility. They were going to the Social Security Office. 2. Allegations of residents engaging in non-consensual sex and bartering for sexual favors at Kannapolis Village L TCF. When DSS learned about this, the family had already moved the resident from the facility, alleviating the need for Protective Services, but the resident continued to allege that this had occurred. 3. A Concord City Police investigation and raid at Concord Retirement Center, where several residents, including a bed-confined resident, were caught using cocaine. The police could not locate any cocaine after searching, but residents and a staff person continue to state that staff sold it to them. Division of Facility Services staff were on-site when the police raid took place. 4. Very little food in the facility at Cabarrus House. A routine DSS investigation found only one gallon of milk and enough food for 1.5 days in this adult care home, far below licensing standards. 5. Septic tank backups at Cabarrus House. The septic tank system at the facility does not allow staff to do laundry there. They have to take laundry to a Laundromat to wash it. This list is not inclusive. It simply provides a sampling of the problems that have been identified and reported to the Division of Facility Services. There have been additional problems in individual facilities in our community including use of residents' personal money by staff to purchase alcoholic beverages, and falsification of records. We understand that incidents of unacceptable care can not be prevented altogether. However, strengthening regulations and enforcement could do much to assure elderly and disabled residents have the care they should have. The following is a list of some of the areas in which regulations and enforcement need to be strengthened: 1. Manaqement: There need to be stricter requirements for owners regarding the operation of homes. Owners too often let poor administrators. continue to operate homes that are persistently deficient. Some owners try to rely on regulatory agencies to assure the administrators they hire do a good job. Owners need to be on site frequently to assure homes are operated well. 2. Facility Maintenance: There need to be stricter timeframes for making needed repairs in facilities. Often, problems exist too long or occur over and over, due to neglect or inadequate corrections. Examples are wires hanging from ceilings, toilets not working, and septic tanks overflowing, as in the example from Cabarrus House cited above. G--d..>