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Palm Harbor living facility stays shut

More than 30 residents who were removed from Palm Harbor's Long Shadow Inn remain at other assisted living facilities in the county.

By NICOLE JOHNSON
Published February 14, 2006

PALM HARBOR - The fire department said an assisted living facility closed last week could reopen, but a state licensing agency was keeping it closed Monday.

The Agency for Health Care Administration placed a moratorium on admissions at Long Shadow Inn on Friday night.

Hours before, Palm Harbor Fire Rescue conducted safety training for about 15 staff members and lifted its order to close the facility.

"They were able to demonstrate the plan, and they practiced it several times," said Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Mark Snow. "They showed they had mastered it."

The department deemed the facility safe for residents according to fire safety standards, Snow said.

But a separate investigation by the state agency is keeping Long Shadow's doors closed to residents for now.

The agency has given no word on when that ban will be lifted.

"We take action such as this to protect the safety and welfare of the residents," agency spokesman Jonathan Burns said. "This is an open AHCA investigation. (The closing) is based on our investigation."

Burns declined to comment on what the agency was investigating.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Children and Families has placed more than 30 residents removed from the facility at various assisted living facilities throughout Pinellas County. Some residents are staying with families.

"I've got a 96-year-old mother, taken 25 miles from me. I've got to know what's going on, whether this place is going to open, or what," said Bob Emrich, a salesman whose mother lived at Long Shadow Inn for a year before being placed at the Veranda in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Cassandra Williams worried about how her brother Donald Williams will get around. The 45-year-old has a brain injury and uses a walker. He was placed in a facility in Clearwater, but it is not equipped for patients with walkers, she said.

"I'm just hoping that Long Shadow opens up really soon," said Cassandra Williams, 24. "I don't think he's going to be able to make it there much longer. They need to open it up really soon."

Neither Cassandra Williams nor Emrich agreed with the facility's closure.

"I saw no problems. It was always clean. They always took care of these people," said Emrich, 66, who lives in Countryside. "They're saying deplorable and despicable. I take offense to that because what you're saying is, "I put my mother in a place that's deplorable,' and now you're hitting me, and I'm not happy about it."

Long Shadow Inn was closed Thursday after a surprise visit by Attorney General Charlie Crist's Operation Spot Check team. Through the Operation Spot Check program, authorities conduct unannounced checks to determine whether nursing homes and adult living facilities are in compliance.

At least four local and state agencies were on hand for the inspection. After staff members failed to evacuate residents sufficiently during a fire drill, Palm Harbor Fire Rescue declared the facility unsafe.

The Attorney General's Office issued a news release later that evening announcing the shutdown, citing other health and safety violations as well. The next day, Crist held a news conference in St. Petersburg calling conditions at the facility "incomprehensible."

Five days since Long Shadow Inn's closure, state officials have released few details about those other violations.

The Agency for Health Care Administration and the Attorney General's Office declined to comment on the case, citing it as an ongoing investigation.

But there are at least two discrepancies between the Attorney General's Office's announcements about the closure and what inspectors found.

The announcement said, "Employees with open wounds on their hands were found preparing food for residents. A sewage problem was noted, as was a lack of soap for residents and employees."

The Pinellas County Health Department investigation during Operation Spot Check found one employee who had a bandaged wound on one hand. The employee was wearing gloves, department spokeswoman Jeannine Mallory said. The Health Department asked that person to refrain from serving food, she said.

The Health Department inspection also noted a soap container that needed to be refilled in an employee bathroom, Mallory said.

"We felt there were a number of minor violations," Mallory said. "But there wasn't anything that could be considered a major violation."

On Monday, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office acknowledged that parts of the press release could have been inaccurate.

"The information we had put in the release was given to us verbally by people on the scene. The only thing I can surmise was miscommunication," JoAnn Carrin said. "I am sure whatever the Health Department is saying is accurate. We can verify that and correct our press release."

On Monday, Patricia Fitzgerald, attorney for Long Shadow Inn owner Zlata Campara, issued an invitation to Crist.

"At this point, I want the attorney general to come to the facility," Fitzgerald said. "I want him to see for himself the place that he described as despicable and deplorable."

[Last modified February 14, 2006, 02:45:31]