RICHMOND, Va. - The beauty of Byrd Park on a gorgeous day feels a world away from where Valerie Davis' mom lives. Davis' mom has Parkinson's Disease Dementia and can no longer do much on her own, so her family placed her in an assisted living facility.
"I was over there with my mom on Monday night, and she rang her call bell to go to the bathroom and it took them 20 minutes, it took them 20 minutes to get in there," Davis said.
Davis took pictures from inside her mom's assisted living facility and said they show the result of inadequate staffing. "There's a soiled pull-up on her dresser, it's horrible, the staffing is horrible," Davis said.
She said on a recent visit, a woman living next door to her mother fell in the bathroom.
"I could hear her hollering for help," Davis said.
But, she claims no staff members could be found.
Valerie Davis with her mom
"When they are taking them to the dining room there is no one to assist the other residents that are in their rooms," Davis said. One picture Davis showed us shows Davis's mom's call bell, which she said was left in the bathroom sink while her mom sat in her wheelchair.
One picture Davis showed us shows Davis's mom's call bell, which she said was left in the bathroom sink while her mom sat in her wheelchair.
"So if she needed the nurse she had no way of calling them because her call bell was in the bathroom sink with puke on it," Davis said.
Davis asked that we not name the facility because her mom still lives there.
Yet, after seeing our previous CBS 6 investigations about Brookdale Midlothian, a Chesterfield assisted living facility cited by the state for numerous staffing violations, she felt compelled to speak up.
Call button left in sink, she says
"They have to hold these places to a higher standard of care for these residents," Davis said.
Davis, like the women we've profiled in previous stories, is particularly concerned about state staffing rules for assisted living facilities.
Currently, Virginia mandates just two direct care staff members per facility, no matter the number of residents, even in a dementia unit.
"It has to change, it has to change because they adhere to that rule because it's the law they think it's sane," Davis said.
CBS 6 reporter Melissa Hipolit searched state inspection records and found that the facility where Davis's mom lives did have three safety-related violations but has not been cited for staffing issues.
But, other facilities in our area have been cited, according to inspection records from the Virginia Department of Social Services.
At Windsor Senior Living in the Museum District, the state found inconsistent staffing patterns in July of 2015 that placed residents at serious risk for potential harm.
In Chesterfield at Brandermill Woods, the state found the facility failed to ensure enough staff to care for residents in November of last year.
And, at Sunrise at Bon Air, in December of 2015 the state found insufficient staffing left an entire cottage unsupervised.
The incident resulted in a resident going into another resident's bedroom and hitting them.
Hipolit visited each facility, but they all declined on-camera interviews, instead, they sent statements which can be seen in their entirety at bottom of story).
The COO for Windsor Senior Living's parent company said the facility was never found to have too few staff members, just that they were not being deployed properly by a new administrator.
The administrator for Brandermill Woods wrote that since their staffing-related incident, policies have changed to prevent a repeat situation.
She said their staff levels meet or exceed staff mandated ratios.
Finally, a spokesperson for Sunrise at Bon Air said the state approved a plan of correction and additional training was conducted to help ensure they are meeting the high standards of care they set for themselves.
Although Davis has no knowledge of those three facilities, she said the state's findings don't surprise her, and they just further illustrate the need for regulatory changes.
"These are our grandmothers and our mothers our great grandmothers, and like I said, there are some in the staffing that are great they just can't give 100 percent because they have to give 100 percent to 17 different people, and they can't do it," Davis said.
Davis said while she hasn't been pleased with the care her mom is receiving, it's her sister who has power of attorney, and she said her sister is happy with the care.
Affinity Living Group (Windsor Senior Living)
We have reviewed and are aware of the July 24, 2015 licensing survey at Windsor Senior Living and can share the following:
- Please know the community received no citations for being understaffed.
- The administrator, who was new at the time, was essentially cited for not properly deploying the staff on the schedule equally throughout the community on each shift. This was quickly corrected and not a major violation.
- There were citations related to staff training, however, please know that in the most significant case the staff had actually received the training. The issue was the person who provided it had not submitted the paperwork to the State to be recorded as an approved trainer. As a result we had to simply redo the training, which we did via an approved trainer, in fact, with our Medical Director, a physician, who far exceeded the qualifications required for the position. This retraining was provided and approved as completed in September (after we received the report in August).
- You may have noted that Windsor Senior Living is a Memory Care community, providing assisted living to seniors with Alzheimer's and related dementia. Please know that in addition to the re-training (which essentially meant all staff had now been trained twice), we provided all staff with a 2-hour training in cognitive impairment and dementia provided by the Alzheimer's Association, on September 16, 2015. This was in addition to the re-training above and had not been requested or required by the State.
- We followed each of the above trainings in October with training in both falls management and training in the use of restraints. While this was not cited as being required of all staff, we went ahead and provided to everyone, again, beyond what was required.
- Finally, in February 2016 the community was found to be in full compliance and had addressed all issues, receiving renewal of its one year license.
Melissa, I am not sure what you may have found at another community but am happy to share this information regarding Windsor Senior Living. Again, the community was never found to have staff shortages, simply not equally deploying the staff by a new administrator. Any training issues were either a "paperwork" issue or quickly corrected and determined by the state to have been sufficiently addressed, in fact exceeded what was required. All non-staffing issues were also addressed, resulting in full renewal of license.
Finally, I can share that we have recently substantially upgraded the memory care services and programming at Windsor Senior Living, by implementing our new "NorthStar Memory Care" program. This past Spring we partnered with the VCU Center of Aging on a $25,000 research grant on the use of "Improv" comedy with individuals with dementia (it will be featured on PBS in November). In August all community staff (even non-clinical staff) received a 2-day training from our Director of Memory Care Programming, a Certified Dementia Practitioner, on the latest techniques in memory care. This was not requested or required by the State, simply part of our commitment to our residents and families. The NorthStar Memory Care program additionally includes new "wayfinding" architecture that divides the community into four "color-coded" neighborhoods, along with "memory boxes" at room entrances to help residents locate their living unit. The program also includes "life skill stations" with therapeutically designed areas in which residents can self-engage in stimulating activities. Finally, we have implemented the use of "redware" table settings, which have been shown to significantly increase both solid and liquid food intake - with proper nutrition being foundational to minimizing the effects and progression of Alzheimer's Disease.
We are committed to providing the best memory care for residents and families in Richmond and will continue offer and implement the best practices and services we can at Windsor Senior Living. Request only that any information, especially from more than a year ago, be taken in context. This is a fully licensed and in compliance community with hard working and dedicated staff.
Brandermill Woods
Brandermill Woods is committed to the care and safety of our residents. This commitment includes providing facilities, resources and staffing to meet their needs. The report you reference in November, 2015 involves a one-time incident where, due to an emergency situation involving a resident, a staff member relocated to another part of the facility to insure that the resident received appropriate care. This resulted in a short period of time when the staffing in the memory care unit was below our minimum requirements. Since that time our policies have changed to prevent a repeat of this situation in the future. Our staffing levels in all areas meet or exceed state mandated ratios.
It is important to note that no resident suffered any harm during this temporary staff relocation. Further, the Assisted Living facility has an excellent history with no previous complaints regarding staffing levels.
Sunrise at Bon Air
The safety and well-being of residents is our first priority. We take seriously our commitment to quality care and act promptly to address anything that violates our internal policies or local regulations.
Due to resident privacy, we cannot share details regarding a specific individual or events. The state approved a plan of correction in August, and additional training was conducted to help ensure we are meeting the high standards of care we set for ourselves and that residents and their families expect from us. We cherish each of our residents and constantly strive to improve service in all areas of the community so that we may provide the best possible home.
