Octavia Lasha Robinson, age 43, is reportedly one of the many outside agency nursing staffers working at Gracedale to fill a manpower shortage. I should probably say she was, not is, working there. On June 23, she was charged by Upper Nazareth Tp police officer Zach Dugan with the abuse of a care-dependent person (i.e. resident) by striking, shoving, kicking and threatening this person. She was also charged with simple assault and harassment.
The case is currently marked "inactive" because she was apparently served by summons to her address in Morristown, NJ, as opposed to an actual arrest.
In its most recent rating, Medicare gives Gracedale a 4-star rating (above average), placing it at the same level as Moravian Hall Square. There were no complaints of resident abuse, neglect or exploitation for a full year prior to this incident. This is highly irregular but still begs the question of what type of screening is employed by outside agencies before dispatching someone like Robinson to a facility like Gracedale, where many of the residents have either some form of dementia or mental illness.
From what I understand, Gracedale is currently investigating other residents who were under Robinson's care.
It's certainly true that public nursing homes get more scrutiny than those that are privately owned. But they should. Executive Lamont McClure likes to say that we have a moral obligation to care for the elderly, but is that happening when four are packed into one room? Is that happening when a staffer is criminally charged with resident abuse? When an incident like this occurs, Administrators should inform County Council as soon as possible and keep the lines of communication open.
UPDATED NOON. - Below you will see a copy of the criminal complaint filed as well as the accompanying affidavit of probable cause filed by Officer Zach Dugan. According to his affidavit, he was dispatched at approximately 3:22 am. It is unclear whether the "caller" is a resident or a Gracedale staffer. He was told that the defendant had been in the victim's room for two hours and refused to leave. When he entered, he personally witnessed the defendant shoving her fingers in the victim's mouth, saying the demons needed to come out. He also saw blood on the victim's chest and bedding. He placed Robinson in custody and took her to Lehigh Valley Hospital for an involuntary emergency health evaluation. She obviously has been committed, which is why the case is currently inactive.
Robinson Criminal Complaint by BernieOHare on Scribd
49 comments:
Secretive administration. Pay people to work there. McClure's empty words. He is known to be full of them.
Red Light! Bernie, if this woman actually does live in Morristown, it's 1-1/2 hrs. from Nazareth and that's without construction delays. Why wouldn't she have secured employment closer to hometown?
This was last week. I hear the victim is still in the hospital.
Nursing homes are no longer a core function of county government. In Pennsylvania, just 11/67 counties are still in the business.
You should ask how the police recieved the origonal complaint. Would you believe it took the 911 center 3 calls from a RESIDENT to finally send an officer to respond as skeleton staff there was unresponsive.
The excuse given was " we get a lot of crank calls from there". This place is sorely in need of professional management., and 911 needs the same.
Getting rid of this white elephant would solve many problems
This Was Not an Aide this was a LPN one that is trusted to pass Meds and make sure residents get the proper Medication ..Who else has this LPN mistreated or even given the wrong meds to …
sell the place
When u make 40. A hr u can afford to drive a hr to work ..
This agency lpn violently assaulted this resident saying she had demons in her!! She held other resident hostage and said she couldn't leave the room!!! She sounded on her chest and shoved wash rags down her throat which blood was coming out of her mouth! She could of killed ( suffercating)this resident if another resident didn't call 911- 3 times!!! This is a BIG cover up story is not adding up!!There is more to this ...
Excuse me, are you saying that (1) staff did not call this in and instead a resident did so; and (2) it took 3 calls before police responded? I'd like very much to see answers to both of these questions. I assume you are a Gracedale employee. I realize you prefer anonymity out of fear of reprisal. but this should have been reported by staff, not a resident. Also, my understanding is that police must respond to all 911 calls. There is no way to determine it is a crank call unless officers respond. So 911 dispatchers have an obligation to notify police.
This is hush hush at Gracedale!
This is more than just disgraceful if 8:48am's information is correct. What is going on up there at Gracedale? Sounds as though this perhaps happened on 11-7 shift. It is frightening to think that this is what the "jewel of the county" has become. Keep digging, Bernie.
Someone call @WFMZ
Inactive on the web docket means "Warrant Issued"
It is possible that a 911 call from an assisted living facility or nursing home did not get a police response but rather an assurance from licensed staff that a resident misdialed.
Also heard 40 minutes went by from the first call to the last 911 call that resulted in the police reporting. Also heard she isnt being charged with a felony? Could have killed the person!
This poor resident has no family to help her press charges 😢
When u have 1 nurse and 2 aids to take care of 50 people thank god they have residents that can call 911 ..3 times 911 was called where Where the AGENCY SUPERVISORS
that should of been answering the
phones ..Yes Agency supervisors what do they get paid a hr…Where did all the money go they say look at what there paying all this agency ..
I understand people share the same name. Look into chargers with her name in NC. Makes you wonder!
Gracedale on a par with Moravian square lol stop it.
THEY get weekly 1200 sipen to travel anything over 1 hour away. AND 40+ hour ...and Gracedale employee 's get 80 cent raise yearly!!! BS!! Who will ever wanna work for GD???
Once again comes down to staffing. This county executive and his administration doesn't care about staffing the county and has to hire outside agencies at gracedale to come in. No problem paying agency nurses 50 an hour. Why doesn't this county executive pay his full time employees. Because it's easier to cover up paying an agency.
The whole county is in a staffing CRISIS!!! Because this county executive has put the county there. Don't pay your people. And then you don't have to raise taxes. And this is what you get.
Maybe you should start looking into other departments? Any other lawsuits? Arrests? Any other shortages of staff that cause issues. Just hiring people so there is a person there. Who cares about their background.
This county is a major disaster waiting to happen. That's why Lamont is getting out. He can see the writing on the wall. And is running.
Where are the Unions? Big donors during election season then they disappear after the money gets laundered back into their pockets. Don't forget to vote for bold NEW leaders in November.
Bernie, you uncharacteristically took a long time to get this story. This was out in the community last week. There are no such things as secrets these days. This was the worst kept secret. Even anonymously, I do not want to give bad info as I’m getting it secondhand, but if the rumors I have heard are true there are more embarrassing details attached to this that impact the County.
It is very unfortunate that this does happen from time to time in senior facilities, and it’s happened at other good places in the valley. And I still believe Gracedale is a good place that is just in a rut right now. The executive has mismanaged the nursing home from the very beginning of his first term.
His aversion to paying fair wages, despite being a Democrat, has impacted the nursing home for years. It’s way behind other nursing homes in the region, even with the new union contracts. The county should continue to own the facility, but it’s time to set it up as a nonprofit enterprise fund of the county to reduce the political ties to the place that degrade the operation. Politicians don’t know how to run a nursing home. I do believe there is a moral obligation to continue County ownership of Gracedale.
McClure and Zrinski are still in office, so it looks like the exorcism didn’t work…yet.
This is a problem for all facilities that use agency
Wish that new leadership could have been amy. But we know what we are getting, either more Lamont or more john brown. Two patsy' running for an office that other people will run and they will only be figure heads.
It's like that in other departments in the county. Who cares about the person past. The county should be verifying every person who works there.
We are now into July. Agency nursing is costly. Where are the 2024 audited financial statements?
She's out.
There are lots of people with that name.
They both have the same CMS rating.
Anonymous
This is more than just disgraceful if 8:48am's information is correct. What is going on up there at Gracedale? Sounds as though this perhaps happened on 11-7 shift. It is frightening to think that this is what the "jewel of the county" has become. Keep digging, Bernie. DITTO
When (in what year) was staffing at Gracedale at full employment? Was Gracedale ever at full employment? If the answer to these questions is "NEVER" then sell the business but don't sell the building. Do you realize the space problem that would be solved by moving other departments into Gacedale? No need for a parking garage in Easton and no need for renting/leasing space in Industrial parks. Why do I always have to solve the County's problems. Damn, I'm smart or better yet, I just have common sense.
Trying to email you but don’t have my old email that is showing on my Mail app.
I need a way to contact you with information. Tried Facebook but unable to send message to you.
3:22, My email address is bohare5948@aol.com
11:41 am said: “ I do believe there is a moral obligation to continue County ownership of Gracedale.”
Please explain this “moral obligation” to me.
Even under the rosiest scenarios where Gracedale would be at full capacity, Gracedale can serve only a few hundred residents. So what about other NorCo residents beyond Gracedale’s max capacity who need care? They’re just out of luck and there’s no “moral obligation” to them?
Let’s be honest, even if the county had the expertise to properly oversee a nursing home operation (and I’m sorry, they don’t), having a government-run facility is the most inefficient model you could possibly choose. If a government run facility recognizes a shift in the market or the need for something like additional incentives for their employees, it has to go through multiple levels of bureaucracy and public meetings to get approval to do something.
Meanwhile, private facilities have recognized the issue, held their internal meetings, and made a decision. All before the government facility gets to the first required public meeting to START talking about the issue. And that’s if the government run facility has competent leadership to recognize the issue as quickly as private facilities do (and again, they don’t).
There are plenty of private nursing facilities in the county. Why not just sell the building and pay the cost to care for the maximum number of county residents who could possibly go Gracedale, and for those people to go to whatever private facility (in the county) that those people prefer?
It would surely be less than what the county is paying for them now, the same number of people are being served, and you’ve fulfilled the same “moral responsibility” that you believe you have now.
“The crown jewel of the Northampton County” as our political class would say … strikes again
Appears someone did. They’ve picked up the story today.
Yes, it was posted to LVL.
I am 6:50 AM. Close friend with resident who did the 3 call attempts. As far as we know, staff never called 911. Thats why it took so many calls, as the caller was not kept on the line, the dispatch said OK and hung up. After third call, resident was told officers were on the way. This nurse first tried to tie towel over patients head and then stuff it down her throat,says my resident friend. This place is keeping it very very quiet, even some workers didn't know until yesterday.
The problem can happen at any facility of this type selling Gracedale doesn’t mean this can’t occur again.
3:29 a Your solution is just not practical. In fact, I would think it’s impossible and likely financially suicidal if it was possible. As a society, we should take care of the unfortunate among us. The reality is that most of these people cannot be placed in other nursing homes, as they do not want to take care of the unfortunate. They want to care for those who produce the most profit for their corporate offices. That’s why the Medicaid citizens are at the County home.
Like any business there are bad employees and like apparently the person in this incident was obviously battling mental illness. Despite criminal record checks and references all health facilities encounter this very sad situation. Investigations take place and everyone prays it never happens again. As one who did investigations I know all too well how staff who have limited information may unknowingly think nothing is being done. Frankly the investigations are confidential and often involve police , department of health and area agency on aging and department of aging. If something was not handled properly this will be revealed. The worst nightmare for any administration or coworker is to hear a resident has been harmed. It stays with you the rest of your life. But just as crime and violence is in society in general it also creeps into Healthcare. That is not a reflection on the facility or overall staff. If something was done wrong it will be uncovered in the investigation. One incident does not make a home bad. How it's handled.. may. Unfortunately agency staff often move around. Are fired and move on to another agency as facilities don't give reference checks and only verify employment dates leaving new agencies or facilities hiring bad staff. There was legislation proposed to allow facilities to give an accurate reference e check so staff with issues that were fired could be shared with potential new facilities hiring. Don't know where this stands. Has been a problem for years. Staff fired for performance but not called abuse can go anywhere and do it again. Prayers for this resident and sny resident affected by this alleged horrific act
911 center is literally 50 yards away!!!
Exactly. As per their rules, the 911 center notified the nursing home with every call received from the residents. The dispatchers do not respond to calls themselves. Furthermore, if you listen to police/fire/EMS radio you will frequently hear calls being given out for 911 dials from nursing homes. If no one chooses to respond, that is on the responder.
McClure and transparency are mutually exclusive. What a disgusting thing to happen and be covered up. No wonder he's running away from another of his disasters. How many more will be revealed? Good grief.
This investigation is not rocket science but does become fuzzy on the early morning of 6/23. The agency hired a nurse with apparent mental health issues, Gracedale contracted with that agency and brought her on board June 11. This LPN refused to leave a resident’s room for two hours while possibly two nurse aides were on the unit who then possibly reported nothing to a house supervisor? That’s where it becomes fuzzy. Where were the unit rounds by the nursing supervisor assigned to the now reported Tower 7?Someone other than the other resident in that room had to have known what was going on and he, she or they did nothing about it (or did they report and nothing was done at the supervisory level?) My heart breaks for this resident and for those staff members at this facility who abhor this type of abuse. The buck has to stop somewhere and, in this situation, the first stop is at the door of the apparent newly hired administrator. The overall blame for this, however, lies squarely on the shoulders of the present county executive who has allowed this facility to fail over the almost last eight years. “Comingled” funds pale in comparison to this abuse of a resident. Prayers for this resident. It is clear Gracedale needs a professional team of skilled personnel to take the reins and attempt to right this ship.
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