Anchorage Daily News

State health officials took over an Anchorage nursing home Thursday after finding that there was "immediate danger to the health, safety or welfare" of its residents.

Two or three residents at the Mary Conrad Center were hospitalized as a result of the state's five-day investigation last week, though state officials said that none of them faced life-threatening problems.

Some local residents said the long-term care center's problems date to its sale this year to RainDance Healthcare Corp. Inc., a Seattle company owned by a controversial former nursing-home executive who had stints involving corporate lawsuits and bankruptcy.

That RainDance executive said Thursday he's never heard any complaints from residents or staff about the center, and he was caught off guard by the state's action on Thursday. He planned to fire the center's administrator and nursing director, he said.

Dale Reed, of Wasilla, says she knows firsthand about problems at the Mary Conrad Center. Her mother died there in July. Reed has a stack of medical papers on her desk about her mother's care that she can't bear to read because it makes her so angry.

"They'd change her diaper but they wouldn't clean her," Reed said.

Her mom spent time there recovering from a back injury three years ago -- when it was run by Providence Health and Services. She returned late last year after suffering a stroke and stayed till her death.

"You can tell when you walk in there that it had changed. Cleanliness is an issue," she said.

UNTREATED INJURIES

Following last week's unannounced inspection at the nursing home, state officials served a notice Thursday immediately revoking RainDance's license to operate the center.

Revoking a license is a "rare step" and has not happened in Alaska since the 1980s, said Bill Streur, state deputy commissioner of health and social services.

The inspection last week showed injuries left untreated, medication not being distributed properly, issues with food quality and unsanitary conditions in the center's kitchen, as well as possible administrative problems, state officials said.

Eighty-eight people live at the center and their families are "terrified" about what to do with their relatives who are living there, said David Boggs, a co-chairman of the center's family council.

Boggs said he holds the individuals who decided to sell the Mary Conrad Center personally accountable for the problems that people have experienced at the center this year.

UNSANITARY CONDITIONS

Complaints from family members and previous inspections at the center this year repeatedly demonstrated unsanitary conditions and problems with residents obtaining timely medications.

According to a "statement of deficiencies" published by state officials this summer, a resident ended up in a local emergency room in July after receiving an inaccurate dose of insulin.

Another resident suffering from arthritis and joint pain did not receive doctor ordered pain medication during March, except for one day when it wasn't needed, according to the report.

In several other instances, residents were admitted to Alaska Regional Hospital without proper notation of their allergies. In June, one resident was nearly given a drug to which she was "deathly allergic." The patient overheard nurses talking about their plans to administer her the drug and alerted them, according to the report.

A council made up of residents' family members wrote several letters to Mary Conrad staff this year, raising concerns ranging from residents being served meals inappropriate for their diabetic conditions to family doctors not being notified in a timely manner of hospital lab tests.

The council didn't receive answers to many of their questions. "Under federal criteria, they have to respond in writing," Boggs said.

OWNER VOWS FIXESThe state Department of Health and Social Services said it has brought extra staff to the center to manage it for now. RainDance will be able to appeal the license revocation but the state might bring in interim managers to run the center.

Andrew Turner, chief executive of RainDance, said Thursday, "I am very concerned about the state's actions. In my 34-year career managing more than 2,000 nursing homes around the world, this has never happened. I am attempting to schedule an appointment with Commissioner of Health and Social Services Bill Hogan to communicate that we fully intend to continue operating the center and will make whatever corrections the state feels are necessary."

Turner said he was at the nursing home during the inspection last week. He said he's never heard any complaints from staff or residents.

"This action on the part of the state came as a total surprise to me," he said, adding that he will return to Anchorage today to meet with state officials.

Turner said he will replace the center's administrator and director of nursing services because "the state has clearly lost confidence in them. I will find a new team that meets the state's standards," Turner said.

CONTROVERSIAL SALE

Last year, the Cook Inlet Housing Authority decided to sell the center to RainDance after it could not come to an agreement with Providence on terms for renewing Providence's lease to run the center.

Providence said running the center had not been profitable. Turner said Thursday that the center has been "modestly profitable" this year.

Last year, the proposed sale to RainDance generated concern among some families that "Googled" Turner and became worried about his business history. Eight years ago, Turner resigned from a New Mexico-based health care provider a year after it filed for bankruptcy. Since then he has formed or joined several companies that provide services to nursing homes.

Turner, who now lives in Seattle, said the Mary Conrad Center is RainDance's only business property.

When Turner visited the center in November, he told residents and families that he planned no changes in staffing levels, employee benefits and services to residents.

"They kept saying nothing would change. Nothing changed until five minutes after they took over," said Kathy Kaulitz, a former assistant activity therapist at the center who still volunteers there and has listened to residents complain about deteriorating conditions.

"They took over Feb. 1, and on Feb. 2 a lot of people left. I stayed until April, thinking they would work the kinks out," Kaulitz said.

"They made life just a living hell for everybody," she said.

Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.

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