NBC2 Investigators: Assisted living facility dogged by bed bugs

Concealed among single-family homes in Naples Park, there's a small residence where people who can't take care of themselves live.

Karen Federighi was one of them.

"I would not want anyone to stay at that facility," she said.

Shortly into her stay at the Vanderbilt Beach Assisted Living facility, Federighi awoke in the middle of the night.

"I was awakened by the little bites," she said. "So I turned on the lights. Sure enough, there they are."

"They" were bed bugs.

Federighi got to a doctor where she was treated for the bites. But she said the facility did nothing to get rid of the bugs.

"I never observed once anybody cleaning, or vacuuming, or dusting," she said.

So she called the state and filed a complaint with the Agency for Healthcare Administration, which came to inspect the Vanderbilt.

AHCA's report shows bed bugs are "a constant battle," according to the facility's administrator. That administrator told state inspectors that the parasites popped up eight months ago. She chose to treat them herself instead of hiring a professional exterminator.

AHCA required Vanderbilt to contract with a state-licensed pest control company by April 30.
Additionally, the facility was forced to seal all the air conditioner wall units where pests were getting inside.

Those deadlines passed, and AHCA has not performed a follow-up inspection to confirm whether Vanderbilt complied.

A Vanderbilt employee refused to answer questions.

"It's none of your concern," she said.

As it turned out, state inspectors found more than just bed bugs during their visit. There were missing medical records and staff was not properly trained to manage medications, and even a case where a resident wasn't receiving proper daily care.

"It really becomes kind of an issue of abuse at some point," said Eric Flusche, a senior care advocate. "Without staff who is properly trained, that can become a life-threatening situation. It doesn't sound like (a place) I would want to put someone that I loved into."

Federighi shared the sentiment.

"The residents at Vanderbilt deserve better," she said.

To find out about health care facilities in Florida, go to the Agency for Healthcare Administration's website.

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NBC2 Investigators: Assisted living facility dogged by bed bugs

National Medical Malpractice Advocacy Association (NMMAA) Files Complaint Claiming Abuse of Patients in Nursing Home

News Release

For Release: Monday, August 15, 2016
Contact(s): Deirdre Gilbert (832) 488-5765

HOUSTON – The National Medical Malpractice Advocacy Association announced today that it has filed a complaint against The Colonnades at Reflection Bay, alleging abuse of several patients. The complaint alleges that the facility engaged in abuse, degradation, physical punishment, neglect, theft of property and failure to maintain infection control. The complaint also alleges that this facility is money laundering money through a for-profit Sweeny Hospital District with Cantex Continuing Care Network as the Management Company.

The Colonnades at Reflection Bay is a large size nursing homes facility in Pearland Texas. It is purported to provide both short and long-term care. This company is stated not to be a part of a Continuing Care Facility according to the Department of Aging and Disability Services. On August 1, 2016 NMMAA was called about a patient within the facility who was stated to have fallen out of the bed. No one could account for how long the patient had been on the floor or how she received several contusions, and bruises to her body. This patient happened to be my family member of the National Director of NMMAA. National Director, Deirdre D. Gilbert visited the facility to find out what happened and no one could tell her anything. It is stated when she walked into the room the patient was naked from the waist down, laying on a bed half covered laying on a wet pad. This was 6:30 pm of that same day and the patient had not been documented of the fall or was taken or observed for any broken bones. It was only at the insistence of Deirdre Gilbert that the patient was sent to Memorial Hermann for observation and was given a series of test to determine if there were any broken bones. The patient was found to have internal bleeding which could have been caused by the doctor giving her three blood thinners. The patient was also documented with bruises on elbow, arms, and knees.

The patient was also noted to having hallucinations so NMMAA Director, requested from the doctor to see if there was a test to see if she had been injected with Haldol, but there is no test to determine that. Many nursing homes have resorted to giving patients these drugs without consent causing patients to become disillusioned and lethargic. On August 2, 2016 Pearland Police was contacted to come in and do a report so that we could have it on file that we were reporting abuse of a patient. Case #2016064934.

The records of the patient showed that she had not had a bowel movement for 20 days. She was noted to have E, Coli which was not being treated. Nurses were caring for other patients in the facilities without gloves or protective clothing. The patient had not had a bathe since she entered that facility on July 15, 2016.

The Colonnades at Reflection Bay has been cited for abuse of patients on several occasions. The police reported that they have had several complaints from this facility. We also received from EMS that they have had to transport several patients noted to have been abused, neglected, mistreated and some have died. NMMAA receives several complaints and one week after the filing of the first complaint has had another call reporting abuse of another patient. From a confirmed source several patients have died in this facility and states that The Colonnades has never reported these incidences.

In addition The Colonnades has been stripped of its’ funding on several occasions and is still not adequately protecting residents from abuse. NMMAA has asked for a full investigation and Complete Closure of its’ facility.

For more information please contact us at nammv1988@gmail.com.

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National Medical Malpractice Advocacy Association (NMMAA) Files Complaint Claiming Abuse of Patients in Nursing Home

How New York’s Elderly Lose Their Homes to Guardianship

A prominent New York attorney is caught in the middle of apparent abuses of the elderly and allegedly pilfers their estate during the guardianship process, according to relatives of victims who hope to bring exposure that will stop her actions.

Mary Giordano is a partner with the New York State law firm, Franchina and Giordano, and among her duties is that Giordano is routinely chosen by the Nassau County Superior Court system to be a guardian for elderly guardianship cases.

But two relatives involved in cases in which Giordano was a guardian say their relatives were forcibly removed from their homes, their assets plundered, and their family members had the life sucked out of them until they died depressed and isolated.

Diane Wilson found her mother Dorothy Wilson lying helpless on the floor of her home and unable to get up on December 8, 2008. Advised due to long standing family disputes to enter her mother into guardianship, Wilson said by March 2009, at the order of then Nassau Supreme Court Judge Joel Asarch (pictured above) Asarch appointed Giordano as the court appointed guardian, even though Diane had filed to be her mother's guardian.

As Wilson’s guardian, Giordano was given power over nearly every decision in Wilson’s life including how her money was spent, where she lived, and her medical care.

Giordano ordered a reverse mortgage be placed on Dorothy Wilson’s home which netted about $275,000 and along with Wlson’s pension of about $2,300 month, Judge Asarch claimed in court the money would last for five years.

But it only lasted two years, and Diane Wilson told RebelPundit that proper accounting of the expenses were never provided by Giordano.

Worse yet, in November 2010, Wilson was tricked and forced to move out of her home and into a nursing home.

“Dorothy Wilson is currently placed in the Bristal, an assisted living facility in Massapequa. She was taken there on November 3, 2010, on the pretense of having lunch, by her daughter, Candice Bruder,” Diane Wilson said in a complaint to the New York State Unified Court Grievance Committee. “After she was there, she was told she was moving in there and her clothes were brought later that same day. She is not allowed to leave the Bristal at all, including Thanksgiving. The family is only permitted to go there and visit.”

The elder Wilson, who was 87 at the beginning of the process, was miserable and felt like a prisoner her entire time at Bristal.

“On November 15 (2010), after placing three phone calls during a 3 ½ hour period, I was finally able to speak with my mother. During the entire phone call her “caseworker”, Tracy, sat next to her while my mother begged me to come and pick her up and take her home. She had no privacy. When I went to visit her in the evening, she cried the entire time, begging me to take her home, asking me over and over again why I never came, why no one visited her, why no one called,” Diane Wilson said the same complaint.

Wilson was force to stay in the facility for thirty days at a cost of $53,000, and Giordano never provided a line by line breakdown of why the costs were so high.

On August 22, 2011, on the direction of Giordano, Dorothy Wilson was again moved to Meadowbrook Care Nursing Home in Freeport, New York again against her will.

On September 2, 2011, Giordano again moved Wilson into another nursing home Maria Regina Nursing Home in Brentwood, NY. Giordano also attempted to sell Wilson’s house.

What followed was a series of furious court maneuvers until on October 18, 2011, Giordano resigned as guardian but still Judge Asarch kept Dorothy Wilson in the nursing home. She died there on October 23, 2011.

Throughout the process Dorothy Wilson sent a series of letters to the judge begging to be allowed to be cared for by her daughter.

“It’s very strange that my daughter Diane is not allowed to go into my house.” Dorothy Wilson said in a letter dated October 20, 2011. “She is the only one I trust.”

Dorothy Wilson also made a series of You Tube videos begging to be released.


To continue reading, click here.

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How New York’s Elderly Lose Their Homes to Guardianship