State Cites Nursing Home Hit Hard By Pandemic
Wednesday, June 24, 2020 | | Author: Tina Terry | Original Article
SALISBURY, N.C. — Families have complained to Channel 9 for months about The Citadel Salisbury.
The nursing home has one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the state, and Channel 9 reporter Tina Terry learned about a new citation against the facility.
“It’s negligence. The way I was done. The way my family was treated,” Ronald Barber said.
His great aunt, Dorothy Cleveland, died at The Citadel Salisbury during the pandemic, but the facility did not contact Barber when she passed. Instead, a funeral director contacted him one day later.
A new report from North Carolina health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officials said the facility failed to “notify the resident’s responsible party of the resident’s death.”
The report also laid out other failures during a survey focused on COVID-19 and complaint investigation, which lasted nearly a month and ended in late May.
Some other major findings include: the facility failed to notify some families that their relatives had Covid19; Failed to separate some newly admitted residents from current ones; Failed to fully implement CDC guidance for masks.
The report said the failure “occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and had a high likelihood of affecting all residents by placing them at an increased risk of developing and transmitting COVID-19.”
Barber said the report is a relief to his family and others.
“Your last years ought to be your best years,” he said.
There was no response from The Citadel Salisbury by late Wednesday afternoon.
As a result of the investigation, officials cited The Citadel Salisbury for non-compliance with rules that posed a widespread immediate jeopardy to resident health. State leaders said they are waiting on a correction plan for the facility.