State takes action on local nursing home

Chris Swingle – Staff writer
Local News – November 25, 2009 - 6:00am

The Hurlbut nursing home was fined and an employee previously fired from Kirkhaven nursing home was placed on probation by the state, according to the non-profit Long Term Care Community Coalition, which Tuesday released a list of enforcement actions against nursing homes statewide.

The Hurlbut, 1177 East Henrietta Road, Brighton, admitted a quality of care violation and agreed in July to pay a $2,000 fine to settle a case related to a June 20, 2008, inspection of the facility and its records. The quality of care problem involved harm to a resident whose slow transit constipation was not well managed. As a result, the resident was hospitalized in February 2008, according to the inspection report.

“The issue was immediately corrected,” said Diane Bogaczyk, administrator, said Tuesday. The Hurlbut did not agree with the state’s assessment of the problem but agreed to settle rather than litigate the case, Bogaczyk said.

The June 2008 inspection cited other problems that didn’t result in actual harm to residents, including treatment of pressure sores, toileting care not given in a dignified manner and physician orders for eye drops, compression stockings and a podiatry consult not followed in a timely manner. Since then, the state has inspected The Hurlbut four times, the most recent on Aug. 14.

The Hurlbut was previously fined $1,000 in 2006 for a quality of care violation related to hydration.

In a separate enforcement action, Monique Jones was placed on three years’ probation for willful violation of health laws. While working at Kirkhaven nursing home, 254 Alexander St., on May 2, 2007, Jones was assisting an 88-year-old resident into bed when he became agitated. Jones kicked him in the ribs, causing redness to the skin, according to the state Attorney General’s office.

Kirkhaven President James DeVoe said earlier that nursing home administrators fired Jones and reported the incident that day to the state health department and Attorney General’s Office.

Jones wasn’t arrested on a charge of endangering the welfare of a disabled person until January 2009 — about a year and a half after Kirkhaven first reported the incident — and could legally continue working as an aide while the case was pending.

The state’s Nurse Aide Registry, where homes log new hires, indicates that in June 2007, about six weeks after being fired by Kirkhaven, Jones was hired by Shore Winds nursing home, 425 Beach Ave. in the Charlotte area. Shore Winds didn’t immediately return a phone call Tuesday.

The state registry indicates that Jones’ nurse aide certification expired Aug. 31 and is listed as “currently lapsed.”

CSWINGLE@DemocratandChronicle.com

To learn more

Read reports from nursing home inspections statewide at http://nursinghomes.nyhealth.gov.