Update: NY Nurisng home closure
Posted by Heather on January 25th, 2006 / Print This Post
Update about the upstate NY nursing home that is being closed.
(January 20, 2006) — The New York state Health Department said Thursday that it is in discussions with the owner of Jennifer Matthew Nursing and Rehabilitation Center about closing the facility.“We’re in active discussions with the owner on the closure,” said Health Department spokesman Joe DiMura, about the Portland Avenue nursing home that is being investigated by the state Attorney General’s Office on allegations of abuse and neglect. “Our priority has always been and continues to be the health and safety of the residents. We’re working to come to a resolution on the future of the home soon.”
However, Rochester resident Arlene Walters, whose mother is at Jennifer Matthew, said staff members told her when she visited the nursing home Thursday that the facility is closing. Walters said residents were also told about the closure Thursday, and that a meeting was planned for today to talk to relatives of residents.
“I’m very upset about it. This has been a wonderful place,” said Walters, whose mother, Gertrude Domalski, 91, has lived at Jennifer Matthew for two years. “She’s been treated very well. And now everyone is going to be separated.”
David Lenefsky of Manhattan, the lawyer for Jennifer Matthew’s primary owner and operator, Anthony Salerno, couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday. Salerno is based in Ulster County. Rochester lawyer Thomas G. Smith, who also represents Jennifer Matthew, said he couldn’t comment.
Jennifer Matthew residents must be placed in other long-term care facilities before the nursing home shuts its doors. The state Health Department requires that a nursing home operator must provide at least 90 days for that process to be completed. Currently, there are about 80 residents in the 120-bed for-profit facility and 129 workers, according to an earlier statement released by nursing home management.
The state Attorney General’s Office filed a civil suit Jan. 5 asking a judge to shut down Jennifer Matthew in the wake of an attorney general’s investigation that involved a hidden camera being placed in a patient’s room to monitor care. Court papers say a 70-year-old man, who suffers from dementia, was not turned regularly, checked for incontinence or given adequate food or hydration while the camera was in place from April to June 2005.
Fourteen Jennifer Matthew nurse’s aides and nurses have been arrested on charges of willful violation of health law and falsifying records, with nine of those workers pleading guilty to lesser charges.
Those pleading guilty have told the Attorney General’s Office other stories about residents lying in their own waste as staffers took naps or watched television, or call bells were purposely placed out of reach so residents could not ask staffers for help, according to the attorney general’s civil lawsuit.
Ex-worker pleads guilty
The ninth former worker pleaded guilty in Rochester City Court on Thursday. Sentencing, which could be up to a year in jail, will take place in February and March for those who have pleaded guilty. The other five workers’ cases have gone to a Monroe County grand jury to be considered for trial.
In an earlier statement, Jennifer Matthew management said the neglect was the result of the actions of a select group of staff members and was not indicative of the kind of care given in the whole facility.
“I really hope that the attorney general will close that place down for the sake of those poor residents who are in there now so they can get to a better place,” said Webster resident Irene Barney, 82, who stayed at Jennifer Matthew for two months last year to rehabilitate after hip surgery.