Cherryville nursing home cited for neglect, call bell problems after state investigation

Story by Nate Morabito

Failures by Somerset Court of Cherryville resulted in the "serious neglect" of one woman and left residents without a working call bell system for an entire week, which "was detrimental to the health and safety of all the residents," newly released investigations by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reveal.

The state's findings confirm what a WCNC Charlotte investigation first revealed earlier this year and followed WCNC Charlotte's reporting.

Freda failed

Investigators found Somerset Court of Cherryville's actions "unnecessarily" kept Freda Reynolds in the hospital much longer than required. As WCNC Charlotte reported in March, the facility refused to take back the outspoken resident council president, who previously filed formal complaints with regulators.

"My respect and dignity have been splattered," she told WCNC Charlotte.

Her family called it retaliation.

"I think that they definitely did not like that she spoke her mind," Freda's daughter Carrie Reynolds said at the time. "It's called dumping."

Reynolds, hospitalized in January, ended up spending 53 days in the hospital, even though the hospital's therapy department and her cardiologist cleared her to return to Somerset Court of Cherryville much sooner. The facility insisted it could no longer meet her needs and in the process, failed to follow the rules by never providing her with formal discharge paperwork and leaving her without an option to appeal.

In response to WCNC Charlotte's questions, the state opened an investigation. Shortly after, Reynolds found a new home.

NCDHHS' subsequent Corrective Action Report classified the failure as a Type A1 Violation, which is defined as "a violation by a facility of applicable laws and regulations governing a facility which results in death or serious physical harm, abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a resident."

Documents show the state plans to recommend some type of administrative penalty as a result. It's unclear how much, but state law suggests the fine could be anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000.

"No administrative penalties have been imposed yet against Somerset Court of Cherryville for the Type A1 violation," NCDHHS Press Assistant Summer Tonizzo told WCNC Charlotte. "When a Type A1 violation is cited, there are statutorily mandated procedures DHSR must follow before a penalty can be imposed. This includes the opportunity for the facility to request Informal Dispute Resolution (IDR) in accordance with G.S. 131D-2.11 and the opportunity for the facility to submit evidence of training to be considered in lieu of some or all of the penalty in accordance with G.S. 131D-34."

Linda Jay

The state opened another investigation after a fired Somerset Court of Cherryville employee raised concerns about the facility. In an interview with WCNC Charlotte, Stacy Reeves documented concerns inside this facility, including problems with call bells.

"I just want them taken care of," Reeves said of the people who lived there.

Residents like Barbara Estes said the emergency system was down when Linda Jay died in October after choking on her dinner.

"Our call bells had been turned off Wednesday of that week," Estes said at the time. "I seen (Linda Jay) grabbing her throat and running. She tried her best to get up there and get help."

After WCNC Charlotte exposed those details, Jay's daughter started asking questions of her own and the state began investigating.

"They failed her miserably," Shelley Dorton said of her mom's care. "It breaks my heart. We need to do better."

The state's investigation found the call bell system continued to be a problem three months after Linda Jay died.

"The facility failed to ensure the call bell system was working properly from 1/15/25-1/22/25," the state's investigation recently found. "Failing to have a working call bell system for seven days could result in the residents not receiving appropriate assistance with their care needs and hinder the residents' ability to evacuate the facility in the case of an emergency. This failure was detrimental to the health and safety of all the residents."

Somerset Court of Cherryville response

Records show, in an interview with investigators in March, the facility's administrator told investigators the call bell system was working properly at that point with no issues. Meanwhile, in Reynolds' case, the administrator told the state she intended to deliver the hospitalized woman a discharge notice early on, "but due to an emergency" was unable to do so and never "felt the need" to follow back up" since so much time had passed."

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Cherryville nursing home cited for neglect, call bell problems after state investigation