(914) 220-1086New York Knew of Nursing Home’s Leaky Roof for Seven Years
New York nursing home regulators knew an upstate nursing home’s roof leaked for four years before finally forcing the owner to fix the safety hazard. According to Syracuse.com, the state Health Department inspection records show reports of “water-stained ceiling tiles” and “a hose running down from the ceiling of a resident’s room into a rusty bucket” dating back in 2015 and 2016. The Health Department is responsible for inspecting nursing homes in New York every 16 months.
After noticing the leaky roof in 2015, inspectors worked with Pontiac Nursing Home to fix the ceiling tiles and the leaky roof. Despite the clearly hazardous conditions, the upstate nursing home never implemented the plan. Consequently, the ceiling was still leaking when inspectors returned in 2016. With the water collecting in a “rusty bucket,” nursing home employees assured state regulators that the slip-and-fall danger was only temporary and the leak had been fixed three months earlier.
Because of Pontiac Nursing Home’s numerous health violations, the inspectors returned only a few months later. With the roof still leaking, the nursing home’s maintenance director told the inspectors that “… he had been telling the owner of the building it needed a new roof for 7 years, and for 7 years he had been applying band-aids to leaks.” Unsurprisingly, documenting the safety violation for the third time failed to fix the roof.
In fact, the Health Department did not play a role in Pontiac Nursing Home finally fixing their roof. A nursing home resident finally complained to the City of Oswego about the leak and poor living conditions. The City of Oswego fined the nursing home $5,000 and threatened to shut down the facility if it did not fix its numerous safety violations. Oswego Mayor William Barlow lamented to the newspaper, “It’s disappointing the Department of Health knew about this and didn’t take more forceful action.”
In response to questions about Pontiac Nursing Home’s repeated failure to fix its roof and the Health Department’s repeated failure to force the nursing home, the state agency equivocated, telling Syracuse.com that, “The Department has cited the Pontiac Nursing Home for multiple maintenance and housekeeping issues, which the facility subsequently addressed.” The failure to follow up on safety violations is disturbingly common, though. A report by the federal government found that the New York Department of Health did not verify whether a nursing home corrected its safety or health code violation 72 percent of the time.
Pontiac Nursing Home Cited for Sexual Abuse
Pontiac Nursing Home has received 37 citations for violations of public health code between 2017 and 2021, according to New York State Department of Health records accessed on April 30, 2021. The facility has additionally received three fines totaling $46,000 since 2013. The Oswego nursing home’s citations resulted from a total of six surveys by state inspectors. The deficiencies they describe include the following:
1. The nursing home did not adequately protect residents from abuse. Section 483.12 of the Federal Code stipulates that nursing homes must ensure each resident’s right to freedom from abuse. An October 2019 citation found that Pontiac Nursing Home failed to ensure such. The citation states specifically that when the facility admitted a resident “with known sexual predator status,” it failed to establish and maintain protocols to prevent the resident from sexually abusing others in the facility. As a result, the resident abused three other residents who were unable to consent. The citation states that these failures resulted in “actual harm.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the education and counseling of relevant staff.
2. The nursing home did not take adequate steps to prevent infection. Under Section 483.80 of the Federal Code, nursing homes are required to establish and maintain infection prevention and control protocols. A June 2020 citation found that Pontiac Nursing Home failed to ensure such. The citation states specifically that a Certified Nurse Aide and a unit clerk at the facility “were observed not wearing face masks appropriately” while within six feet of three residents, and that a Certified Nurse Aide used care equipment in four resident’s rooms “without cleaning the equipment between residents.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the re-education of relevant staff.
3. The nursing home did not take adequate steps to prevent accidents. Under Section 483.25 of the Federal Code, nursing homes must ensure that resident environments are kept “as free of accident hazards as is possible” and that residents are provided with adequate supervision to prevent them from sustaining accidents. An April 2019 citation found that Pontiac Nursing Home failed to ensure such. The citation states specifically that the nursing home failed to provide adequate supervision for two residents after they sustained falls. As it describes further, proper assessments were not taken after the residents fell, including the taking of incident reports and the performance of neurological checks. A plan of correction undertaken by the facility states that these deficiencies had the “potential to cause more than minimal harm.”
Four Upstate New York Nursing Home Aides Arrested for Abuse of Residents
Attorney General Eric T. Schniderman announced the arrest and arraignment of four former nursing aids in Oswego, NY on September 15, 2016. The aids were arrested for cases regarding nursing home abuse at two Oswego nursing homes. All four aids were charged with misdemeanors and felonies for taking “undignified” photographs and videos of residents at Pontiac Nursing Home and St. Luke Health Services; both facilities have strict policies forbidding cell phone use. A.G. Schneiderman stated that residents of nursing homes and their families deserve peace of mind knowing their loved ones are being properly cared for and respected by their caregivers. He continued to say recording residents for amusement is a “blatant violation” of residents trust and privacy in a place they call home.
In one case, nursing aids Matthew Reynolds and Angel Rood, former employees of Pontiac, took demeaning photographs of a resident using an iPhone. A.G. Schneiderman said there were multiple pictures showed Reynolds and Rood lying in bed with the resident and touching them in a “taunting and abusive manner.” John Ognibene, Administrator at Pontic fired both aids immediately. Ognibene stated the staff at Pontiac is educated in patient rights during orientation as well as at their annual inservice training. Inservice training reviews the restriction using cell phones, social media and taking photographs of residents. Ognibene continued to say any violation of the policies or implementation of them is unacceptable.
In the second case, aids Austin Powell and Brittany Bolster filmed themselves physically and verbally tormenting a resident. One video, recorded by Powell, shows him and co-defendant Bolster touching a residents nose repeatedly and taunting her, causing the resident to become extremely upset and agitated. As a result of their taunting, the resident experienced emotional trauma and lashed out in a violent manner to stop the abuse, which could have caused her to physically harm herself. A statement was released by St. Luke Administrator and CEO, Terrence Gorman Powell states was fired in February 2015 and Bolster was fired a year later for being seen in the video and not reporting the incident. In an effort to prevent something like this from happening again, Gorman said they will be vigorously reviewing existing policies and have additional inservice training related to resident’s right to safety and privacy.
All four aids were charged with Endangering the Welfare of an Incompetent of Physically Disabled Person in the First Degree, a class E felony, and two counts of Willful Violation of the Public Health Law, an unclassified misdemeanor. They were released on their own recognizance and have appearances scheduled for October 19, 2016.
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The Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC is a law firm dedicated to holding nursing homes accountable for abuse. If you or a loved one has experienced abuse in a nursing home, please contact the aggressive and experienced nursing home abuse attorneys at the Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC.
