Facility racked up several violations

An assisted living facility has been using untrained personnel for nursing tasks, inspections confirm.

By THOMAS LAKE, Times Staff Writer
Published October 3, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Every man has a boundary, and Jody Infantino drew his at the blood.

Infantino worked as a medication technician at the New Port Inn, an assisted living facility just east of downtown, where about 100 elderly people get help with things like shaving, tying their shoes and checking their blood sugar. Infantino had several complaints about working conditions, but it was this last one that led to his departure: He says officials there asked him to draw blood, check blood sugar levels and, if necessary, fill needles with insulin.

State law says this job is for licensed nurses, because it requires informed judgments that medication technicians are not trained to make.

Infantino quit in June.

"My life and my kid's life is more important than me being in jail. And that's why I left," he said.

In a routine inspection Aug. 27, state officials discovered the same thing: medication technicians testing blood for glucose levels and preparing insulin syringes for injection. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration called this a Class I violation - the most serious of its kind, because it put residents in "imminent danger."

Penalties for Class I violations include fines of up to $10,000 and other punishments ranging up to revocation of an ALF's license.

Infantino says that when he quit, this is how his boss responded:

"Oh, it's not a big loss. We can just hire anybody off the street."

There is evidence to suggest this was not an exaggeration. Around that same time, the facility hired William Charewicz, 54, whose prior record included a plea of no contest to a violent felony. He was arrested at the New Port Inn on the morning of Sept. 20, accused this time of punching a 78-year-old Alzheimer's patient in the face and pinning him to a wall with a forearm to the throat.

The facility has been cited for several violations since 2003, according to state investigative documents obtained by the St. Petersburg Times.

In May 2003, a worker complained that there were no sanitary gloves available for changing soiled sheets and diapers, and no laundry detergent for washing soiled clothes. An inspector confirmed the allegation and discovered that the facility was mismanaging residents' prescriptions. In a follow-up visit the next month, the prescription problem had not been corrected.

In February 2004, an inspector found a long list of deficiencies, including unsecured oxygen canisters in resident rooms, window screens that let in insects, missing ceiling tiles above the food-preparation area, improperly trained employees, missed doses of medications to residents, and so on. In addition, two of the six employee files reviewed by an inspector contained no documentation of a Level 1 background screening - a criminal history check that is required by the state.

This issue bears on AHCA's current investigation of the New Port Inn: Charewicz and another caregiver, Rachel Trubey, were both hired, despite their arrest records, without getting state-required exemptions.

"As long as it's a body there, they don't care," said Victoria Amrhein, Infantino's girlfriend, another former employee. She said the ALF fired her when she called in sick one day.

In April 2006, when workers left the fifth floor unattended, a resident opened the fire door and tumbled down a fire escape, suffering bruises and skin tears. The facility was cited for insufficient staffing and fined $1,500.

On Aug. 27, 2007, the same day the inspector learned that the medication technicians were checking blood sugar, administrator Susan Hines said the facility had had "zero adverse incidents in 2007."

But the inspector learned of more than one, including a June 8 incident in which a resident was discovered on the floor with a fractured hip. Another resident suffered a broken collar bone.

When asked by a reporter what the state would do about the apparent deception, Molly McKinstry, AHCA's bureau chief of long-term care services, said, "The statements that are made to our investigators aren't really under oath."

That investigation, as well as the one that began after the patient was beaten Sept. 20, remain unresolved. It is unclear what AHCA plans to do.

"I can't speculate on a decision that hasn't been made," McKinstry said.

Jody Infantino said he has found work at another assisted-living facility. Recently, other former New Port Inn employees applied for jobs at Infantino's new workplace, and Infantino said his boss asked about them.

Infantino's reply:

"Don't hire anybody from that place."

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Thomas Lake can be reached at tlake@sptimes.com or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245.

[Last modified October 2, 2007, 21:28:12]