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For elderly, a new place to call home

Crystal Gem Manor, owned by DOS Healthcare Inc., opens in the former River Oaks facility.

By JIM ROSS
Published September 26, 2005

CRYSTAL RIVER - The building that once housed the River Oaks Assisted Living Facility is occupied again, under a new name and new ownership.

Crystal Gem Manor, as the new assisted living facility is known, opened a few weeks ago. It has received a handful of residents so far, but the population is expected to increase steadily and soon.

The new owner is no stranger to Citrus County: DOS Healthcare Inc., based in Miami Beach, owns and manages the Sugarmill Manor and Pleasant Grove Manor assisted living facilities.

When this property - on Gem Street just north and east of Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center - became available, the company was eager to buy.

"It flows so well with what we have," administrator Laurene Holder said.

River Oaks stopped operating in summer 2003 after the state Agency for Health Care Administration alleged the facility used improper restraints, inappropriate punishments and improper admitting standards for elderly residents who needed nursing home-level care.

A judge cited the facility's owner-operator, Dan Ward, for falsifying licensing applications, prescribing and modifying residents' medications, hiring a certified nursing assistant to perform physical therapy on residents and continually misrepresenting himself as Dr. Ward.

Ward and Orinthia King, the former nursing director, were each charged with one count of neglect of an elderly person. They have pleaded not guilty, and their criminal cases remain pending.

DOS had nothing to do with the prior ownership or operation of the facility. It just bought the building - lock, stock and barrel - this year.

The 23,000-square-foot structure was in good shape, Holder said. Her company spent about $50,000 on cleaning and basic repairs.

Crystal Gem is licensed for 40 residents, but Holder said that will increase. One immediate goal: establishing a 14-bed hospice unit.

Crystal Gem has landscaped courtyards, a comfortable dining room, private rooms and double occupancy rooms. A private room runs $2,500 per month, and it's $1,500 for semiprivate rooms.

Holder is proud to say that many residents in the company's two other facilities are longtime Citrus residents. She said she wants Crystal Gem to be comfortable and affordable, just like the other Citrus properties.

"It's a very homelike setting," she said of Crystal Gem. "It's warm."

Assisted living facilities help residents with some requirements of daily living. Nursing homes, known as skilled nursing facilities, provide around-the-clock nursing help.

Citrus has nine skilled nursing facilities and 14 assisted living facilities that work with elderly residents. Holder said she believes hers is the only company that owns three facilities in the county.

Sugarmill, on U.S. 19 near Sugarmill Woods, is licensed to hold 60 residents. Pleasant Grove, off County Road 581 in Inverness, is licensed for 24.

Does DOS have further expansion plans in Citrus? Perhaps.

"We're actually looking for a nursing home to own or manage," Holder said.

[Last modified September 26, 2005, 01:18:19]