I've written repeatedly about Gracedale, Northampton County's nursing home, in recent months. In January, I told you that the facility has been cited seven times since Michelle Morton took over as Administrator. Her background is recreational therapy, not nursing homes. I've told you that the latest CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) rating places the home at just one star, which is considered well below average. The home has the added indignity of a scarlet letter in the form of a
next to its name to warn potential residents and their families about the possibility of abuse. Finally, Executive Tara Zrinski has told County Council that a county contribution will be needed for 2025. I'd love to paint a prettier picture. The home serves a noble purpose and is the last refuge for many who have nowhere else to go. Unfortunately, things may actually be worse. Medicare may impose penalties on a nursing home when there's a serious health or safety violation that remains uncorrected. Gracedale was hit with two penalties totaling $80,550 on September 19, 2025. This appears to be related to residents who were just wandering off the premises and then being retrieved by local police.
Finally, its license is imperiled. Instead of a regular license, it now operates with a provisional license. This takes the place of a regular license when there are serious deficiencies that need correction. If the nursing home fails to meet CMS standards, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement will stop and the home will be out of business.
There are still 14 county-owned nursing homes in Pennsylvania. All but Gracedale have regular licenses. This includes the largest county-owned nursing home, the 778-bed Fair Acres located in Lima, Pa. Of the 14 county-owned nursing homes, Gracedale provides the least amount of nursing care to residents.
There are also 7 state-owned nursing homes. All have regular licenses and all provide more nursing care to residents.
Pennsylvania also includes 227 nursing homes owned by non-profits. All but 3 have regular licenses.
NorCo Council is poised to discuss Gracedale this week. It's pretty clear that everything it has tried as failed. It is time to bring in people who know what they are doing.
Government screws up whatever they do.
ReplyDeleteAn alleged nut job tries to perform an alleged exorcism in the middle of the night and that’s Morton’s fault ?
ReplyDeleteIt is not just that, but the elopements and failure to provide the required nursing care. As for the exorcism itself, that agency nurse was alone in a room with that resident and her roommates for two hours with nobody noticing. How did that happen? The 911 call came from a resident, not staff, and staff had to go check. How did that happen? Sounds like poor administration to me. They need help
DeleteStuff happens, Tara and her administration will make it right
DeleteTara had time with her staff long before this, so what has changed?
DeleteWhat is Tara going to fix? Honestly? That place barely has any county employees left. They're mostly run by agency staff who make $12 - $15 more than the Gracedale employees. The only "fix" will be to get competent administration in there that actually cares about the Gracedale staff and they get better pay! Bring them up to what the other county Nursing Home (Lehigh County) is paying! I was a long time employee that left to work for agency so I could afford to care for my family.
DeleteTime to sell can't keep putting good money after bad
ReplyDeleteThey didn’t put any money toward the serious concerns happening over the last few years. They failed to act upon nursing and aid vacancies, instead they used outsourcing adding more debt and not fixing the scheduling and overtime issues.
DeleteThe county is not prepared to manage and maintain required practices for nursing home care. They knew this a number of years ago, but did not act on any rational conclusions. Gracedale is one of the largest county owned nursing facilities in PA, employing near 2,000 personnel and responsible for over 600 resident/patients. Either they address the issues now, or take ownership of its failure and answer to all those affected by it.
Your boo Mr. McClure did this. He made speeches about Gracedale and has probably doomed it. You say whatever council tried. Council approved his plans and when they wanted more information they were stonewalled. As when they did approve measures, your boys McClure and Barron ignored council and did what they wanted with the money.
ReplyDeleteYou have a real hangup with that crew and you want to shift the blame to council. Sad.
I have been critical of McClure, not just Council and Gracedale administrators. You would prefer that I just limit my criticism to McClure bc you are a partisan R. If anything, I have been complimentary of the way council has been trying to get a handle on what goes on there. I did slam Keegan for suggesting at one meeting that all was rosy when it was not and that we need to hear more good stories. I'd love to do that. Many of the people who work there are very special. It is a calling, much like the priesthood, to take care of older people like me. If you want to see who has real hangups, look in a mirror.
DeleteBernie, you were there when the old magik was written. At your age the only way to "take care" of you is with a stake and consecrated ground...
DeleteThe one guy escaped to go see his “girlfriend” at The Fox in Bath. The Fox is a “Gentleman’s Club.” O’Hare has been banned. I digress. He was so lucid that the cops didn’t retrieve him. They picked him up and gave him a ride to the club. Apparently, there was a disagreement among his healthcare providers as to whether he was competent. You can’t make this stuff up.
ReplyDeleteSpider-Man. Gracedale ain’t holding Spider-Man. Dude in his early-50’s. Has early on-set Alzheimer’s. Family knows he loves to take 10 mile walks and CLIMB TREES. He eloped from a Manor Care 20 times before getting dumped at Gracedale. The right question to ask is who admitted Spidey to GD ? Were they trying to undermine Morton and Gracedale ? Was it sabotage? It worked, because Spider-Man could not be contained. Gracedale had him being babysat around the clock. The babysitter’s relief called off or was late, and they just got up and left. You don’t go leaving Spider-Man unguarded. You see not only can he climb trees, he’s still with it enough to write down on a piece of paper the code to access a locked elevator that some other residents stupid family member gave to him. The aide gets up and leaves. Spidey REMEMBERS he wrote the code down and he retrieves it, and out the door he swings. All the way to WaWa on 248. Who can blame him ? The coffee is that good. Fire the person who admitted him. Fire the nurse that left him. Discipline the nurse that called off. Ban the stupid family member. Change the locks. File a plan of correction. Follow it. Did these things happen ? These are the questions Council needs to ask !
ReplyDeleteThis would be understandable and if it were limited to this, there would be no adverse action. But there have been at least three elopements by different residents. So instead of blaming his family, look to your subpar administration.
DeleteWay past time to get rid of the white elephant and its cost to the citizens.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, the September 2025 date of this action will reflect on McClure's run for State rep come November. Zirinski can look like a hero if she fixes this before November. Anyone taking bets on the turnaround?
ReplyDeleteMy money is on Tara!
DeleteMy money is on a MAJOR tax increase. Lol That is where the county tax payers money is going.
DeleteTara couldn't run a lemonade stand.
DeleteMcClure (D-Northampton and congressional candidate) said our elderly were our most precious asset. Then, he ran Gracedale directly into the ditch. The facts show that he treated our elderly worse than any executive in county history. May Gentleman John Stoffa rest in peace. The good news is that Steve Barron bragged that he was never indicted over the employees' missing $400K. It's time for an independent investigation of all involved. Do your job Shapiro.
ReplyDeleteShapiro is a phony- he only care about himself. BTW, he went after the Catholic Church while AG.
DeleteI am sure this will be discussed behind closed doors keeping the taxpayers out of it.
ReplyDeleteThis is disgraceful!
ReplyDeleteI’m assuming no one is surprised by this since you can’t have the type of abuse that has occurred in the last year and have no type of repercussions.. Sad!
ReplyDeleteState goes in there frequently and every complaint is always UNFOUNDED! How?
DeleteYour last sentence is spot on. Gracedale is worth saving and needs better administration. Gracedale has a history of taking residents that private facilities do not want, assist of 2 or agitation due to dementia. I moved from the Lehigh Valley years ago and read frequently about cases where family could not find facilities close by and had to go over a hundred miles to find a nursing home.
ReplyDeleteIf Gracedale was worth saving, why did McClure not do it? He paid a lot of lip service to "our elderly" blah blah blah. It appears that was just politics and he really didn't care about Gracedale at all.
Delete8:39 has it right. Gracedale is a safety net. IT takes residents that no other facilites will take. Ask yourself this: you live in Northampton County. You have a little brother or a son who has mental illness and now cannot care for himself. No insurance other than Medicaid. He is violent and lacks capacity to make medical decisions for himself. There are no state hospitals anymore. He goes to Gracedale. He elopes. The amount the state pays in Medicaid for him to be cared for barely breaks even the cost of keeping him. Add a 1:1 and it’s even worse. Nobody really wants to work or Gracedale as an employee LPN/CNA because the wages are too low, in order to accommodate union benefits. So : agency. And the bank breaks further. The voters of Northampton County must decide if the public good of providing a safety net for poor people to live when they can no longer care for themselves is worth it. If it is, the unions must likely go, so pay/benefits can better mirror other non-public nursing homes in the area. Gracedale has more young, violent behaviorally-problematic patients than any other nursing home and this is the reason they have 1 star, and a big reason nobody wants to work there. So who should care for these patients?
DeleteMuch as I think Tara Z. is woefully ill suited for her current position this is a black stain also owned by the prior and current county government. It is also a black stain on the voters. We tolerate incompetence, are too busy to go to local monthly or bimonthly local municipality meetings. In the last election some good candidates lost local races simply because hatred towards one of more national political figures. How else would you explain the election of Naddem Qayyum? I also mourn the loss of daily newspapers and the coverage of reporters at government meetings. Unfortunately, those of us lucky enough to have had that coverage are dinosaurs and regularly dying off. Take care of yourself, Bernie. Much as I shake my fist at some of your positions, I really appreciate your efforts to present local issues. And if the roads ever get ice free, wear an extra good helmet!
ReplyDeleteAll under McClueless's watch!
ReplyDeleteEverybody and anybody involved in County Government knows who is responsible for this poor performance at the County Nursing Home. Mr. McClure was at the helm of this sinking ship. The worst is yet to come. Steve Barron abandoned the sinking ship and he was the financial expert giving advice to McClure. McClure didn't fund his obligations to the tune of millions of dollars to his employees and his retirees. He not only shafted them, he stuck it to the people who needed him most....the seniors of our County who can't take care of themselves and depend on the County for their very survival. Now he wants to be CONGRESSMAN?
ReplyDeleteHow long can Gracedale last with Michelle Morton? Like wow, 80k fine. Get it together or get out, simple
ReplyDeleteShe keeps flip flopping on her employment. Who is actually running anything there? A disgrace.
DeleteI have never heard one taxpayer complain about their tax dollars going to help the senior citizens and less fortunate of our County. The County leadership is an embarrassment to all of us who reside here and voted for these individuals. We were always so proud of how we cared for our residents at Gracedale and our employees who provided quality care to our family members and friends. Now we are a statewide disgrace when it comes to the quality of care provided at a Nursing Home Facility.
ReplyDeleteMany taxpayers are not aware Gracedale even exists and many would prefer it be private.
DeleteA vocal minority, some of them gaining subsidies via “elder care” lawyer sharpies, are the main supporters.
This is the first of many predictions by John Brown and Tom Giovanni that I expect will come true.
ReplyDeleteCorrect! Let’s see David Holland fix this one. He was warned.
DeleteThis is not on Holland’s shoulders, this is about an executive and councils NOT having proper management in place to
DeleteNavigate federal programs and meet standards absolutely required for proper nursing home care and fiscal control.
Like letting a foot doctor operate on your tonsils.
Brown and Giovanni couldn’t find Gracedale with a GPS if their lives depended on them. They both never took time to review how the scheduling and staff worked and handled overtime concerns. They never pushed for further financial aid or budget line increases to help the home. Sorry, they are irrelevant to Gracedale
DeleteAssuming you are correct in your tabulation, of 21 government owned nursing homes in PA, only Norco has failed to provide an acceptable level of care?!? This is outrageous and will follow Lamont for the rest of his political career. I am appalled! I am not opposed to running Gracedale or government ownership of these homes, as the government funds them whether public or private owned (the dirty secret here.) But Tara better bring in professional management.
ReplyDeleteThe political class is this country is corrupt and out for themselves not the people and that is a fact.
ReplyDeleteWell Tara like you said. You're getting a pile of SH-T put in your hand from Lamont. This is just the start of it. When everything comes out about all the county services it's gonna get worse. Lamont and Brown walked around talking how they didn't raise taxes and this is what your left with. The smaller departments you can play with numbers but the 2 or 3 big departments it's coming to a head. So get ready county residents. The only thing that can fix it is money and the only way we see that is taxes. So get ready.
ReplyDeleteAnd stop blaming Barron for everything he was following orders. When your boss tells you to do something you do it. Or your fired. So put the blame where it belongs on that POS that ran this county into a hole I'm not sure how to get out of.
The McClure administration and previous councils were very aware for years that staff shortages, and declining census and funding were coming. This did not happen overnight. Many knew but chose to do nothing.
DeleteI really don’t even know how you fix it at this point I doubt Tara and council with Dave Holland can right the ship. On another note are you going to do another FEC filings post Bernie or not? I can save you the writing. Only Bob Brooks and Ryan Crosswell brought in money everyone else burnt it including McClure who was probably the front runner but only raised 22 thousand.
ReplyDeleteMcClure's his man!
DeleteStop giving the new executive a pass, she was on council long enough to know the Gracedsle shortcomings, she then had her fingers on the financials and cannot say she didn’t see it coming . The entire councils past and present should have been aware of the shortfalls occurring with the Governmental transfers and reduction of participating county owned home
ReplyDeleteContributions.
McClure was her protege
DeleteWhat’s sad is that Gracedale continues to be bashed in the public eye. I don’t see other counties bashing their nursing homes. I’ve heard many residents are scared that Gracedale will close because of the constant negative press. You are scaring the residents! Gracedale has done a lot of good work and their staff are amazing and work under a lot of pressure.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for the negativity, but how many of the other county-owned nursing homes have provisional licenses? Zero. How many of the state-owned nursing homes have provisional licenses? Zero. How many of the 227 nursing homes owned by non-profits have provisional licenses? Three. Who has the lowest level of nursing care, in terms of hours per patient per day, of the state and county-owned nursing homes? Gracedale.
DeleteGracedale was a five star facility at one time. It is now one with an abuse warning and a provisional license. These are the. facts not scare tactics. Residents should be concerned and should be asking questions as to why this is the case. The workers should be asking the same and/or working to correct the issues there. Perhaps all should ask administration what a provisional license means. Keep up the investigation, Bernie.
DeleteBernie is accurate and honest in his evaluation. This council and administration hold Gracedale’s future in their hands.
DeleteWhere is Rev. Mario? We need him.
ReplyDeleteHe was replaced at Gracedale by Father Guido Sarducci.
DeleteI would hope that if this upcoming meeting is streamed that the sound volume is turned up so it is not a silent movie like the last three or four streamed council meetings.
ReplyDeleteGracedale situation is critical. A management company is your best bet however be prepared this won't happen overnight. The staffing problem is such the census should be cut and that likely won't happen. Cedarbrook many years ago closed a wing and made it into I independent living. When staffing got low other units were temporarily closed. They had a long term plan for a new wing in the works for 20 years that is now happenimg. Council received letters outlining the problems years ago and ignored them. Brown listened and actually starting making improvements but lost the election. Gracedale can't come back from this unless big changes are made by management with experience. May I also add although not popular the unions in nursing did not help the attitudes and poor decision making. Don't get me wrong there were many devoted staff who cared deeply about their residents as I'm sure there still are. This is not an easy situation to solve and will take years of commitment. The buildings are old with little investment in making them marketable in today's world. They do take people no one else will but that has led to their problems as easily seen in the provisional license status. Secured separate units for behavioral issues must be considered if they are to continue to take these residents. Staffing adjustments also need to be made. Running a home on basically agency staff is a disaster waiting to happen. I feel badly about the present situation but I can say I personally tried to help and despite it all no one wanted to hear anything but what they wanted to hear. And here we are.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember when Gracedale operated with a full staff? Please tell me the proper time frame (years). Just curious as to how and why we got to this awful shortage. If I remember correctly, There was a time when people applied for employment at Gracedale and were told there weren't any job openings. I know, I was one of them. Did they lie to me?
ReplyDeleteAccording to available reports, the nursing home faced staffing challenges
Deletebeginning , six years ago, In 2020, partly do to COVID,
In 2022 , an opinion piece written by the county executive, indicated national hiring
Concerns, making it difficult to determine a date with full staffing.The report emphasized retention efforts rather than optimal staffing and high ratings.
They also got rid of their in house nursing assistant training. Big big mistake
ReplyDelete"You ask for miracles, Theo; I give you the Northampton County government..."
ReplyDelete-- Hans Gruber (probably)
The only reason they got the red tag is that an LPN allegedly had a psychotic break and committed a crime. The real question is why did the Upper Naz police fail to respond to the first two 911 calls ?
ReplyDeleteAlso Immediate jeopardy when a resident was allowed to sign himself out when he wasn’t capable of doing so. Read the state and federal sites about Gracedale people.
DeleteThe Physicians Assistant said he was competent, but it wasn’t their call, it was the MD’s who said they weren’t. Hardly the fault of Gracedale Administration.
DeleteLehigh, Berks, Bucks all have highly rated homes. Can you look into how that happens? Perhaps interview those counties about how they manage these homes? What’s the difference? Can Tara reach out to Siegel and connect with Cedarbrook’s leadership to learn what works and what does not?
ReplyDeleteDavid Holland himself is responsible for the current staffing problems at Gracedale. While working for private management company Premier, Holland and D. Millard Freeman cut 200 Union positions at the behest of John Brown. Then the pandemic happened and LTC changed.
ReplyDeleteNot even close. D was out of there at least 4 years before the pandemic. He tried to save money for the county but for some reason the unions fought him. Bet you wish you had him now, right?
DeleteDavid Holland was and will be an asset to the county. Both he and Mr. Freeman were the reason for the high ratings, IGT funding success with working county owned nursing homes, and the
ReplyDeleteKnowledge of proper management for a nursing home the size of Gracedale. You are way off base in your comment, and need to research the history of the home under Premier.
The McClure apologist5s are really piping in, must be to help his flagging congress run. Also to normalize the terrible record he racked up at Gracedale. Took over running the Home because he is a control addict. Also, tole people not to discuss Gracedale in public and attacked any who did. Enough about him.
ReplyDeleteNow TZ should know he handed her a stink burger designed to allow him to run on no tax increases in eight years. What will she do? Stop going back to make excuses as to why the Home is going to Hell. Remember, McClure and his apologists got th union to represent him and not the employees. So, the past is past. TZ has kept on all his advisors and team. Does she expect different results. Are they working for her or their real boss. Contributions can come with a price. Will Zrinski be a county executive or a face?
Yoo obviously don’t know Holland, nor did you follow the layers of work that Freeman and Premier did to audit and reset Gracedale on a successful path for the years they were involved.
ReplyDeleteExactly! D did the work.
DeleteD eliminated many positions!!!
DeleteMany employees emailed council for years telling them the issues. None of them followed up.
ReplyDelete