Iowa care facilities cited for resident abuse, lack of safe environment

The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing oversees nursing homes in the state of Iowa. (Photo via Getty Images; logo courtesy of the State of Iowa)

Several Iowa nursing homes are facing fines for resident abuse or failing to provide a safe environment.

The state has proposed a $9,000 state fine against the Happy Siesta Health Care Center for the lack of a safe environment and tripled that penalty to $27,000 due to the violation being a serious, repeat offense. The fine, however, is being held in suspension to allow federal officials to decide whether a federal penalty is warranted.

The safety violation is tied to a March 8, 2024, incident in which a resident was riding in the facility’s passenger van when the driver accelerated, causing the man’s wheelchair to tip over backwards. The resident struck his head, sustaining three lacerations to the back of his skull.

According to state records, the man was taken back to Happy Siesta where the activities director, who had been driving the van, allegedly asked a colleague who was out a report on the incident, “Can we not chart he wasn’t buckled in correctly, as I don’t want to lose my job?”

Over the next several days, the resident’s head tilted increasingly to the left and he showed signs of severe neck pain. He also had to drink beverages through a straw because he was unable to lift his head or tilt it backward. The staff provided muscle relaxers and Tylenol, but the pain worsened over the next two weeks.

On March 21, two weeks after the injury, the resident’s wife took him to an urgent care clinic, where the staff was unable to complete an X-ray due to the resident’s pain, according to state records.  On March 29, a CT scan confirmed that vertebrae in the man’s neck were broken, and surgery was scheduled for March 31. After surgery, the resident was fitted with a halo brace to around his skull to keep his head immobilized.

According to inspectors, the administrator of home stated that an investigation concluded that the activities director was “intentionally careless” and so she was fired on April 5.

Other nursing home citations

Several other Iowa nursing homes have been recently cited for resident abuse, including:

The Grand Meadows, Asbury – This facility was fined $500 for resident abuse related to neglect by a caregiver. A licensed practical nurse at the home was alleged to have taken away the call light of a 65-year-old male resident who was cognitively intact but needed assistance to use the bathroom. The nurse had reportedly become frustrated with the man’s frequent use of the call light, telling the man he was wearing an undergarment for incontinence and that he should just use that.

I was soaked head to toe and could not find the call light. It made me feel like I didn't matter at all.

– Resident of The Grand Meadows in Asbury, Iowa, as reported by state inspectors

“When I went to hit the button it was gone,” the man reportedly told inspectors. “She came back in for some reason and gave me trouble about wanting to use the buzzer and said, ‘Oh, there it is,’ and it was curled up on the end of the table too far away for me to reach. The rest of the night it was gone and I could not find it again. Someone came in first thing in the morning and said why don’t you stay in bed for a few extra hours since (you’re) feeling bad, and then it was past breakfast time and I had wet myself several times. And when they finally came in it was about time for lunch and I was soaked head to toe and could not find the call light. It made me feel like I didn’t matter at all.”

Mill Pond, Ankeny – This facility was fined $500 for failing to immediately report suspected resident abuse to the state and failing to immediately separate the alleged victim from the suspect. In an email to the facility administration, a male resident with polio had reported “a very bad experience” with two female nurse aides who worked for a temp agency. He stated the aides tried to take his leg brace off without unlacing it first, and so he told them to unlace his shoes first and then pull them off, but they refused, according to state records.

The man said the aides “kept pulling and yanking” until he thought his ankles were going to break, and then one of the aides looked down at his leg and said, “Eee-ooo, what happened to your leg?” The man complained that the aides were “horrible” and showed him no respect, adding that they were “unbelievably rough” when he asked them to slow down.

Wapello Specialty Care, Wapello – This facility was fined $500 for failing to prevent a male resident of the home from abusing three female residents by touching them in an inappropriate manner. In one instance, the man attempted to lift a woman’s dress, and in another he put his hand up a resident’s shirt, according to state records. The home was also cited for failing to immediately report resident abuse.

Berry Ridge House, Sioux City – This facility was fined $500 for failing to immediately report allegations of abuse, neglect and mistreatment. A direct support professional at the home was reported by a colleague to have left a 44-year-old man with intellectual disabilities on the toilet for roughly 40 minutes and, when confronted, said wasn’t “putting up with anyone’s —-,” according to state records.

The direct support professional had undressed a resident roughly, then moved the man — naked and seated in a shower chair — from the man’s bedroom, down the hall, to another room, state records report. According to an employee, the direct support professional then poured water in the man’s face and later threw a towel over him rather than dry him off.

Later that day, when the man used his call light to summon assistance in getting to the bathroom, the direct support professional threw the call light at the man’s chest and handed him a portable urinal, according to state records. The abuse was reported by the staff to the home’s qualified intellectual disabilities professional who later told inspectors they didn’t report the matter to the home’s administration.

Accura Healthcare, Lake City – This facility was fined $500 for failing to report an allegation of abuse to the state. A resident of the home who had no cognitive impairment complained that a nurse aide was exceptionally rough in handling him.  The aide, he told inspectors, “entered the room while I was in bed (and) started changing my brief. She rolled me over and pushed real hard on my right leg thigh area and I yelped, ‘Ow.’” The aide reportedly threw up her hands and said, “I am not dealing with this,” and left the room without removing the man’s soiled undergarment. The aide “did not cover me up with anything, I laid there exposed,” the resident told inspectors.

Blackhawk Life Care Center – This facility was fined $7,750 for failing to immediately report allegations of abuse involving two residents.  A certified nurse aide at the home had reported that during the overnight shift of Jan. 26, 2024, a resident was combative, and was kicking and spitting at the staff.

The aide said a male CNA intervened and “proceeded to slap the resident” in the face, then stepped on her foot before grabbing the woman by the back of her pants and “whipping” her around while forcibly swinging her into a wheelchair, according to state records. The male aide later followed his colleague throughout the rest of their shift, asking, “Are you going to tell on me?”

Another worker at the home told inspectors she had reported concerns with the male CNA’s anger issues and how he would yell at residents. The worker alleged that the administration didn’t take the matter seriously and refused to investigate.

The post Iowa care facilities cited for resident abuse, lack of safe environment appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch.