The 92-year-old, strapped to a wheelchair, was missing for an hour before a nurse finds her at the bottom of stairs.
By ANNE LINDBERG
Published October 14, 2004
PINELLAS PARK - Residents in wheelchairs at the Pinellas Park Care and Rehabilitation Center sit in the hall by the second-floor elevators so they can chat with one another.
On Tuesday, 92-year-old Elvira Nunziata slipped away from the group and was gone for almost an hour before her nurse realized she had disappeared. The nurse searched her room and the downstairs dining room with no success.
They found her at the bottom of a short flight of fire stairs, where she had fallen to her death while strapped in her wheelchair. Pinellas Park police said an alarm designed to sound when the fire door opened was working, but no one at the nursing home heard it.
An autopsy Wednesday did not determine whether Ms. Nunziata had died instantly. An investigation is continuing, even though no one is suspected of a crime, police said.
"This is an unfortunate isolated incident, which is currently under investigation. We offer our deepest sympathy to the resident's family," said a statement from Home Quality Management, the for-profit Palm Beach Gardens company that runs Pinellas Park Care and Rehabilitation Center.
Officials with the company declined to talk to a reporter, and no relatives of Ms. Nunziata could be reached for comment.
Records with the state Agency for Health Care Administration show the agency ranked the home in the bottom 20 percent of nursing homes in the St. Petersburg area.
Concerns included lack of proper labeling of drugs and other biological supplies, and problems with sanitary storage and preparation of food.
But AHCA officials say the group's concerns may have been remedied since the last inspection. The nursing home underwent a change in ownership in March, they said. According to the AHCA Web site, the nursing home charges a minimum fee of $140 per day.
Pinellas Park police say the last time anyone saw Ms. Nunziata was around 3:30 or 3:45 p.m. Tuesday in front of the second-floor elevator, where nurses had many of the residents spend part of the day.
When the nurse realized she was missing, she spent about 10 minutes searching the second floor and the downstairs dining room, Pinellas Park Detective Scott Golczewski said.
Before the nurse could search farther, a maintenance man said he had found Ms. Nunziata in the stairwell of the west fire escape on the landing between the first and second floors.
She had fallen down a flight of about 10 steps.
Paramedics and police were called to the nursing home at 8701 49th St. N about 4:40 p.m. Tuesday. Paramedics pronounced Ms. Nunziata dead when they arrived. "She was in the wheelchair strapped in," police Capt. Michael Haworth said.
There are many good reasons for restraining someone in a wheelchair, said Robin Bleier, a nurse/risk manager and owner of RB Health Partners Inc.
Included are situations in which a patient lacks the strength to sit up. In some of those incidents, properly restraining a patient in a wheelchair helps them get out of bed and get around.
Facilities should follow federal regulations, which guide them in assessing whether restraining someone is okay, Bleier said.
Ms. Nunziata was suffering from "many illnesses (that) include the onset of dementia," police said.
Even so, Haworth said, she was able to get around and was not confined to one spot. She apparently pushed the fire door open and went into the stairwell.
"She had good dexterity," Haworth said. "Opening doors was not a problem for her."
It is not clear why no one realized she had entered the fire escape. The door had an alarm that worked when police tested it.
"The alarm was functioning," Golczewski said. "It was loud."
Officers removed the alarm and took it for evidence.
