The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Management evicted residents from four nursing homes, two in Richland County and two in Charleston County, after the conditions of the facilities were deemed to pose an imminent threat to their safety. I was.
DHEC has issued emergency shutdown orders to Reese’s Community Care Homes No. 1 and No. 2 in Columbia and Bowles Community Care Homes No. 1 and No. 2 in McClellanville, department officials said. All facility licenses to operate have been suspended with urgency.
A survey of the Reese’s Community Care Home in Colombia in early December revealed an infestation of bed bugs and cockroaches, inadequate food provision, an unsanitary kitchen, and failure by staff to properly administer medication to residents. became. The South Carolina Department of Social Services and other state and local officials helped relocate residents.
A December 28 inspection of the Bowles Community Care Home in McClellanville revealed that “the facility was unstaffed, depriving residents of care, supervision and services for an extended period of time.” The inspector also found that a padlocked kitchen prevented residents from eating food, improperly stored medicines were not available, and the lack of heating in the building meant the temperature was below 50 degrees. He also found that between 60 degrees. DHEC officials said they could not determine when residents last ate or received medicine.
Authorities evicted 17 residents from the two facilities.
“It is the responsibility of community residential care facilities to operate in compliance with all applicable laws,” said Gwen Thompson, Director of Healthcare Quality at DHEC. that all community residential care facilities within the United States operate in accordance with these laws, which exist to establish standards for protecting the health, safety and well-being of the residents they care for. , we will take swift and decisive action to protect our residents, which is always our number one priority.”
DHEC has not disclosed details of the nursing homes. A spokesperson for the agency said it could not provide further information at this time.
Calls to the Reese and Bowles establishment went unanswered. There was no option to leave a voicemail message.
Generally, according to state regulations, residential care homes that are inspected and found to be in violation of DHEC standards are required to submit a written remediation plan. These include the actions taken to correct the defect, the actions taken to prevent its recurrence, and the completion date of those actions. If a violation poses an imminent danger to the health, safety, or well-being of its residents, the facility must address it immediately, unless a period of time is required to correct it. Penalties for failure to remedy violations may include fines of up to $5,000.
