COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. — The Virginia Department of Health confirmed its Office of Licensure and Certification is conducting an investigation into Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Colonial Heights.
"Due to the ongoing criminal investigation, VDH cannot comment further on this matter at this time,” Maria Reppas, a spokeswoman for VDH, said.
CBS 6 has reported Colonial Heights police arrested multiple employees at the Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center Wednesday morning, charging them with crimes ranging from abuse and neglect of vulnerable adults to falsifying patient records.
The arrests came after police say a 74-year-old patient was hospitalized and ultimately died due to inadequate care received at the facility.
This is not the first time CBS 6 has reported on issues with the facility.
InJuly 2024, we told you VDH cited the facility for violating federal rules after our 2023 investigation into an attack on a social worker by a resident.
After that report, VDH said they visited the facility in August 2024 to investigate nine different complaints
Our May 2023 investigation focused on how the nursing home handled the case of Cassie Ortiz, a social worker who was assaulted by a patient at the facility.
“And he just would not let me go. I was very scared,” Ortiz said about the episode.
While the facility provides short-term rehab and long-term care, Ortiz said when she was there, more than 20 psych patients lived on site.
“Our job is not to manage psych patients, we are not equipped to do that,” Ortiz said at the time.
As a direct result of our report, the VDH Office of Licensure and Certification initiated an investigation and found four violations of federal rules, including failure to investigate and report allegations of abuse involving one resident to the appropriate regulator agencies on 10 occasions.
A month-and-a-half after their inspection, VDH followed up with the center to ensure the problems were fixed.
VDH found they were, but we learned the follow up visit was an off-site paper review, as opposed to an in-person visit.
Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center has one star in a five start rating system on medicare.gov Their staffing ratio is also a one out of five.
The number of times a nurse is able to spend with a patient there is far lower than the national average. Nurse turnover rates are also far higher than the national average.
A PR firm sent us the following statement on behalf of the center:
"We are aware of the events that happened today and are cooperating fully with law enforcement.”
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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