Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Nursing Home Neglect alleged in Investigation - Denver Colorado

Commerce City, Colo. -- Following a series of CALL7 Investigative reports, the state health department has fined a troubled nursing home in Commerce City more than $100,000 and forced sweeping changes to the facility's management.
"We saw a pattern of repeated complaints," said Nancy McDonald, division director for Health Facilities at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. "We realized that with the current management they were unable to, or were not adequately prepared to, make the changes necessary to keep everybody safe." In the last year, CALL7 has uncovered repeated complaints of neglect, injuries and death of patients at the Woodridge Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center


Inadequate Food?
For months, a frequent complaint by families and nursing staff was that residents were refused additional food because of budget constraints.
"They were telling me they couldn't have seconds because we don't have enough food or they didn't prepare enough food," said Cook Supervisor at Woodridge Park, William Santoro. "I kept hearing that we don't have enough food or we didn't cook enough food."
Santoro explained that he remembered making one pan of spaghetti for 90 people -- each was given an ounce and a half. Santoro told Ferrugia he complained and nothing was done, so he quit.

Nursing Home Shake-Up Follows CALL7 Investigation - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver

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