This story has been updated.
[T]he state has taken over a fourth residential elderly care facility owned by Texas-based East Lake Capital Management, as legal proceedings over management at the homes have been delayed.
The state installed a temporary receiver to take over daily operations at three of the facilities last week, after state officials say the ownership failed to carry out basic business practices for months and failed to properly stock food.
In court on Wednesday, the state agreed with attorneys for the investors to postpone a hearing at which a judge would decide whether to make the receivership permanent, in exchange for giving the state temporary control over another facility: Harborview in South Burlington.
Harborview, which is home to 70 elderly residents who require a lower level of care than the other facilities, doesn’t fall under the purview of state regulation, which is why officials had yet to install management there, according to Assistant Attorney General Bessie Weiss.
However, it falls under the same corporate structure and shares many of the same resources as Allenwood at Pillsbury, one of East Lake Capital Management’s South Burlington facilities, which the state assumed control of last week.
The state also took over Pillsbury Manor South in South Burlington and Homestead at Pillsbury in St. Albans.
Weiss said she was concerned the hearing on the permanent receiver was delayed but relieved the receivership was extended to the Harborview facility.
“The residents there really deserve permanency and they don’t deserve to worry about their homes anymore,” Weiss said after the hearing. “But at the same time I am really pleased that every residential facility is now included.”
State officials moved to install new management at the facilities last week after they received complaints from residents and their family members about the company’s failure to cash checks or return deposits.
They also heard that the company had failed to pay vendors, which had led to food shortages at the facilities. In some cases, staff members would pay for food for residents out of their own pockets, officials said.
Lisa Shelkrot, an attorney representing East Lake Capital Management, said the company’s long-term goal is to resume managing the facilities.
“What we do know is that the owners are eager to provide the state the assurances they need that the places are being properly run,” Shelkrot said.
The hearing at which the state plans to argue for a permanent receiver has been rescheduled for Dec. 10. But Shelkrot said she hopes her client and the state will be able to come to an agreement before then.
“We may be able to work something out with the state before then and hopefully we will,” she said.
In its complaint requesting that a judge approve a permanent receiver to manage the facilities, Monica Caserta Hutt, the commissioner of the Department of Aging and Independent Living, said that for eight months, the company and its owner, Andrew White, have repeatedly ignored “constant and urgent attempts to communicate with them.”
In addition to failing to cash checks and refund deposits, Hutt wrote that the facilities have been in “substantial or habitual” violation of health and safety standards established in state statutes. The quality of care provided to residents at the facilities has “deteriorated,” she wrote, particularly in the weeks leading up to the state’s intervention.
The department suspects staffing shortages have contributed to the inadequate care, according to the complaint, and low staffing levels and a “staff exodus” had been a concern among employees, residents and their family members.
During a recent investigation, DAIL cited one facilities for failing to report the unexpected death of a resident who died after being injured in a fall, according to the complaint.
One facility failed to provide “timely treatment” to a sick resident, who required treatment in an emergency room.
“Upon admission, the [emergency department] found the resident to have low oxygen levels and a brief soaked with urine and feces that ‘disintegrated’ when the [emergency department] nurse touched it,” the complaint states.
In another case, the executive director of one of the facilities failed to report “the suspected diversion of fentanyl patches prescribed for a resident” to the police or the department, according to the document.
Staff shortages and instances of inadequate care have ramped up at the facilities in recent weeks, the complaint says, increasing concerns among residents.
“Every day, residents and their families are anxious about the potential for imminent shut-down resulting in the sudden loss of housing and care,” Hutt wrote.
Craig Deslaurier, whose 89-year-old mother lives at the Allenwood home, said that his family started asking questions about the state of affairs at the facility months ago, when rent checks were no longer being requested and invoices stopped.
His family had concerns about nursing staff levels. His mother relies on the 24-hour staff who are on call in the event of medical emergency, he said.
“When it became possible that there was a worry that we could be less confident about that we certainly had some concerns,” Deslaurier said.
“My hope is that the receiver does have the ability to take over and institute management of the facilities in a way that the original contracts led the residents to believe they could expect,” he said.
Deirdre Erb, whose 94-year-old mother is an Allenwood resident, praised the staff and said she isn’t worried about the quality of care. But, she said, she’s noticed the business’ financial practices have been awry for months.
“We’ve been trying to pay her bill since the beginning of March, and there’s been no bill to pay,” she said.
She said she’s “thrilled” the state placed a receiver in charge of the facility, but noted there’s still uncertainty going forward.
“There’s an unease about it because we don’t know what’s to come,” she said.
