Zrinski Attempts to Minimize Gracedale's Problems

At last night's meeting of Northampton County Council, Executive Tara Zrinski spoke twice about Gracedale, both during courtesy of the floor and in her Executive report.  In hir first oration, she spoke about the good care the nursing facility provided to her mother, something she has done several times in the past. She never mentioned that this care was during a time when Jennifer Stewart King, and not Michelle Morton, was the Administrator. In her Exec report, she tried very hard to paint the home in a positive light. She noted that there were 14 citations in 2025, but only 4 "technical" violations this year. She did not point out that we're not even halfway through the year. She said the root cause of these problems go back several years. She said none of the citations this year reflect a failure to provide care, which is utter nonsense. In fact, the poor staffing is precisely why the home was cited in January and again in May.  I'd also say that a failure to follow doctor's orders, especially concerning medications and blood sugar levels, is indicative of outright negligence. 

She did finally mention Gracedale's downgrade from a Provisional I to a Provisional II license. She believes the root cause was the county's admission process, under which some risky residents were accepted. She said the home is now more selective in who it accepts. 

I'd like to know what the DOH has been at Gracedale 27 times since Michelle Morton was hired as Administrator. It's true that most of these complaints are unfounded, but the sheer number suggests to me that employees, residents and family are unhappy. This reflects on Morton's leadership. 

I'd like to know why, after being repeatedly cited for falling below the state minimum nursing care requirements, Gracedale was cited for that again and with a provisional license. Amazingly, Morton claimed this shortage was caused by call offs. Why on earth would the home fail to plan for call offs? 

I'd like to know how Gracedale, whose very mission is to take care of people, could ignore doctor's orders. 

We got answers to none of these questions because as soon as she was done with her Exec report, Zrinski asked for an Exec session to discuss "personnel."  And accompanying her into the back room were Morton and Human Services Director Sue Wandalowski, who is supposed to have nothing to do with Gracedale. That's the whole point of the new positions sought by Zrinski. No doubt, the purpose of the exec session was to scapegoat someone for problems that have grown worse since Michelle Morton arrived. 

Finally, I'd look to know when Zrinski was apprised of the downgrade to Provisional II. It certainly belies her previous reports.