Facility closures rough on seniors

Two north Spokane assisted living facilities closed last week after about 30 residents relocated, but some of the elderly clients have not adjusted well to the move, a former staff member said.

One resident repeatedly has run away from a new home, and another had a massive heart attack and was in intensive care, said Amy Rossi, who worked as a caregiver at both Heritage House and Cornerstone Place. Operated by Spokane Valley-based Alternative Care Corp., the facilities closed last week as part of the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

“I just think it’s very devastating to have to move the elderly,” Rossi said, adding that the staff was like family to some patients who didn’t receive visits by relatives. “It’s just sad.”

Many assisted living residents don’t survive such moves, said Louise Ryan, Washington’s long-term care ombudsman, who was appointed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to check on residents. Ryan’s program will visit the residents to see whether they like where they’re living and whether their needs are being met, she said.

The closure also left Rossi and her co-workers looking for work. In March, the facilities employed about 20, according to court documents. Rossi has had some interviews but hasn’t found a job yet, she said.

A caseworker from a division of the state Department of Social and Health Services helped relocate tenants, whom long-term care advocates worried would have trouble finding new homes on short notice, especially if they received state Medicaid.

“I think there were some placement barriers because of needs and Medicaid reimbursement, but he managed to find homes for everybody,” Ryan said.

One 106-year-old woman was placed in a hospice facility, Rossi said.

Residents, some of whom have dementia, received 30 days’ notice to move but heard mixed messages about whether the buildings would stay open from ACC head Jim Reinking, Ryan said previously.

Calls to Reinking at home and work were not returned.

Rossi said she thought her supervisor was joking when the woman told her the business would be closing in just more than a week. During the last week of operation, the phone at one facility was temporarily shut off, and a resident’s son had to pay to have a Dumpster returned, she said. Some workers were shorted hundreds of dollars, she said.

The facilities are scheduled for foreclosure sale Sept. 21 by Minneapolis-based Sand Trap Properties Inc., a subsidiary of U.S. Bank. ACC owes about $2.4 million to Sand Trap for a loan that’s been overdue for four years, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.