I discovered one of our local nursing homes was on a special Medicaid watch list. I started looking into it and found state inspection reports which found seniors living in conditions where there wasn’t enough food for them, they were being left in their own waste for days and were living in absolutely deplorable conditions.
I started by reporting the violations. Continued when the nursing home was closed. Reported on other violations at the parent company’s other locations, and have kept an eye on the corporation’s resulting bankruptcy. Here’s that series of reports, which spread over several months.
1. Reports of human waste on floor, medicine theft put Liberty, Boardman nursing homes on gov’t watch
2. Closure recommended for Warren nursing home
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3. Campus Health Care in Liberty closing after state inspection
4. Troubled Warren, Liberty nursing homes’ owner has local, national history of issues
5. Former Liberty nursing home worker: ‘Some days it was unbearable’
6. Closure recommended for Warren nursing home
As a footnote, I was never able to actually speak with the owners of the facility or anyone in management. The AP sent along the following report during bankruptcy procedings:
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) – The co-founders of a Hixson nursing home business paid themselves six-figure salaries and drove company-financed Porsches while failing to pay employees, utility bills, taxes and creditors.
That’s according to court documents reported in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Since December, eight nursing homes operated by New Beginning Care have flunked inspections. Six have closed, including one in Youngstown, Ohio, where inspectors found residents in adult diapers “saturated” with urine or feces. Two more facilities are due to close soon.
New Beginnings will spend Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chattanooga to try to hang on to seven nursing homes it still operates, including two in Tybee Island, Georgia.
Issues to be discussed include nearly $7 million owed to creditors including $1 million owed to the Bureau of TennCare.
Rust Belt Writers 