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Jan 20, 2008 7:54 pm US/Pacific
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CBS 5 Investigates Bay Area Homes For Disabled
(CBS 5)
People with developmental disabilities are some of our most vulnerable residents. You might not realize it, but very often tax dollars go to for-profit companies for their care.
But a CBS 5 Investigation raises questions about the quality of care in some of those for-profit group homes for the developmentally disabled. Our investigation begins with an incident in 2004 that happened at one Bay Area group home.
The call came late one night from a house in Redwood City, as a worker at a group home for the disabled phoned emergency.
"Her skin is burning," the worker told the emergency personnel.
Inside that home, Theresa Rodriguez, a woman with mental and physical disabilities had been badly burned. The home was run by RCCA Services, part of one of the largest conglomerates in the country, ResCare.
State surveyor Carol Bradley was assigned to investigate.
"It really didn't register until I actually saw her," Bradley said.
She saw life-threatening second and third degree burns. Rodriguez' skin had been scalded from her waist, down to her thighs.
"It was a very severe burn, in a very sensitive area of her body," Bradley recalled. "It just broke my heart. It was obvious that she was in a great deal of pain."
Just as disturbing, Bradley said, was how it happened. She discovered the person caring for Rodriguez, a woman named Oretha Ocansey, had virtually no experience. Bradley said Ocansey took Rodriguez into the bathroom for a shower and left her in a shower chair under scalding water.
"It was almost as if she was being tortured" Bradley said.
Even though Rodriguez was severely burned, court documents show employees at the home let 3 hours go by before calling 911.
"It was at least 3 hours of torture, excruciating pain," Bradley said.
In fact, some workers told Bradley they were not supposed to call 911.
"They are told by the managers not to call 911 because it's expensive, that they will transport the client in their own van to save money," Bradley said.
As a result of the scalding, the house was cited and fined by the state. And CBS 5 Investigates found that home was just one of three RCCA facilities in San Mateo County cited by the state for failing to meet federal standards. Two of those were cited for insufficient staffing, among other problems, and one was forced to shut down.
CBS 5 Investigates also discovered the state recently found deficiencies at two other RCCA homes in San Jose. In January 2007, inspectors cited one of them, a home called Purple Hills, for failing to provide "continuous active treatment" for fully half of its clients.
What was not included in these reports? Practices at those facilities described to CBS 5 Investigates by former workers.
"It was more about budget and bottom line, it was to try to keep the cost down to maximize profit," said Katherine Wilson, who managed those two San Jose group homes.
"A lot of time we were short-staffed," Wilson said, despite the fact she says proper staffing at the homes was critical. "It's a very demanding job, there's a lot to do. These particular people aren't able to take care of themselves; they depend on someone else for everything."
Wilson says her supervisor restricted her.
"I was only allowed so many hours per week for the homes," she said. "They would try to maximize profit: The less hours you have to pay staff, the more money the house is going to be making. It really wasn't enough to take care of the kids."
Kellie Lloyd, who helped oversee one of those homes, says she got a surprise shortly after she started: a bonus check. But when we asked Lloyd what the bonus was for, she said "I don't know. I was told, for keeping hours down."
Lloyd said there wasn't even enough staff to follow safety practices mandated by the state.
"Probably like the fire drills were the worst for me," Lloyd said. "Because a lot of times they weren't done. Going to the home and actually trying to do one, there was no way."
And Wilson said that when a fire drill wasn't done, her supervisor told her: "You need to get one in there."
She told CBS 5 Investigates she understood that to mean: "Put one in there whether it was done or not. To make sure that that paper is in there, filled out, regardless if that drill was done."
Wilson even wrote to RCCA's executive director complaining of "ever increasing staffing issues" and "gaps in the (homes) schedule".
RCCA Services declined our request for an on-camera interview.
But after reviewing information about the homes and those allegations, Charlene Harrington, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco who studies nursing home and staffing issues said "It's clearly a serious situation."
Harrington, the former director of the California Department of Health Services' Licensing and Certification division explained, "Almost always when you see quality problems, the underlying problem is the staffing. It's either the amount or the training of the staff."
After reviewing documentation on RCCA's two San Jose homes, Harrington said "I would say that there are probably serious staffing problems there."
The reason? Harrington said: "It's all about money. When you have for-profit chains involved, they're saving money to the greatest extent possible."
RCCA officials claim they meet or exceed state staffing requirements and that state surveyors found no staffing problems during the time those former employees worked there. The company claims to have investigated the allegation concerning the fire drills and says it was quote, "unsubstantiated" and that they don't tolerate tampering with documents. They also say have new policies to prevent accidents like Rodriguez's but insist their policy has always been for employees to call 911.
RCCA no longer runs those homes in San Mateo County: One was shut down, and the state says the company sold the others.
Oretha Ocansey, the worker involved in the scalding incident, pled no contest to elder abuse in 2004. And San Mateo County itself is suing RCCA Services and Rescare on Rodriguez's behalf.
Click here for the company's statement along with one from their parent company, Rescare.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)