Last week, Northampton County Council was slated to receive an update on Gracedale from Himan Services Director Sue Wandalowki. Since the nursing home has been removed from her portfolio, I questioned why she, and not Administrator Michelle Morton, would be talking about the beleaguered nursing home. Wandalowski apparently got the message and deferred at least temporarily to Morton until the subject of finances came up. That's when she interjected herself.
Before I get to that, let's talk about what Morton herself had to say.
The first thing Morton told County Council was that the state DOH had visited the facility that very day all F-tags had been lifted, including those for the latest elopement as well as a belligerent resident who is pocketing prescription drugs. These are issued for deficiencies in compliance with regulations that ensure resident safety.
She then went on to say that though Gracedale will self-report deficiencies when they happen, there have been no substantiated complaints since began her job in March 2025. A review of DOH visits reveal, however, that complaints were, in fact, substantiated on 6/25/25, 10/17/25 and 5/14/26.
She addressed the5/14/26 elopement in which a resident wandered away and had to be returned by police to a home that was unaware he was AWOL.
"I want everyone to know that the elopement for which ... a violation occurred [was] because a resident was taken off campus by another resident family member, who drove that resident to Easton and dropped the resident off. So that's certainly not something that I think anyone would have predicted or anticipated, that someone would take someone else's resident, not even their own family member off site."
Um, that's why you do periodic head counts. That apparently wasn't happening as it should have been. Shouldn't a nursing home be doing this before people start wandering off?
She spoke about the agency nurse who documented that she had administered medications to the AWOL resident: " I do wanna point out what that particular nurse, that was, like, a one time individual.It wasn't a systemic problem of that people, you know, false documenting. It was one nurse who was documenting."
Isn't that why some agency clearinghouse was established so that these nursing journeymen are properly vetted before they are unleashed on unsuspecting residents? Morton noted that this nurse's license has been reported but failed to state whether any background check at all was performed. When pressed on the matter by Council member Jason Boulette, Morton replied, "I'm not gonna go in every detail of the plan of correction. It is available online if you would like to look it up."
She acknowledged that the census, which should be at 520 in order for the nursing home to break even, was down to 470. But in response to questions from Council member Dave Holland, she initially denied that the home is in the red. When he asked her about a financial report from Acting Discal Director Barnadon Dunstane showing that Gracedale was in the red after its first quarter, she at first denied it. "No, that is not true. We are not spending 100% of budget." Then she said that the home has a lot of "Medicaid pending" residents
That's when Wandalowski, who is supposed to no longer have any responsibility for Gracedale, came to Morton's rescue. She said that Gracedale has 9 residents receiving one-to-one care, 24/7. "That is a budget buster," said Wandalowski. She did acknowledge that the home is over budget.
24 comments:
Your crucifixion of Michelle Morton is becoming obnoxious and old. No interest in this blog any longer. You should be more productive with your time and maybe consider what she is trying to do to save Gracedale.
M & W should run for an elected public office. They would fit right in as they are both seem to have PhDs in BS and Smoke and Mirrors.
I think your last paragraph is incorrect. I believe Ms. Wandalowski continues to oversee Gracedale until the new Director and Deputy (those positions were just recently approved through council) are filled/appointed.
The ordinance creating the new department includes no transitional provision that the Human Setvices Department remains in control until a new Director of Continuum of Care is created, so you are incorrect.
Please feel free to stop reading..Gracedale never had this many DOH visits until Morton came. It never had a provisional license until Morton came. It never saw even that license downgraded until Morton came. It never had an administrator so dismissive of council until Morton came. She is objectively bad.
"I'm not gonna go in every detail of the plan of correction. It is available online if you would like to look it up."
Tell me you have no clue, or simply don't care, without saying you don't know or simply don't care. I think it's time for an administrative exorcism.
It was obvious from the beginning that Morton was a poor choice for administrator for Gracedale. She is too low key, defensive, manipulative and basically not skilled enough to manage Gracedale. She continues to be defiant in her statements and wants you to believe that things “really aren’t that bad “ . They are that bad (and possibly worse). Now she is blaming residents’ families for giving a resident a ride. She blatantly tries to
ignore questions (as she did with Mr. Boulette) at every meeting. She is so far out of her league with Holland. Any comments on this blog, Bernie, supporting Morton must be from Tara, Sue or Michelle herself.
Sometimes truth hurts.
Well said Bernie, keep bringing these issues to light. 5:29am is probably Morton or a relative
She’s a dope and cocky to make comments like that to council. I agree she needs to go
Think it’s time to listen carefully to Mr. Holland
Please tell us exactly what she has done, thus far, to solve problems at Gracedale.
Why doesn’t Morton take care of in house issues like the person working with YOUNG volunteers who are impressionable and talking about witches, warlocks and has skullls and evil masks all over her office. The one with the black and purple hair. Morton has been notified about this horrible behavior and has done nothing! I am concerned about these young children and teens.
I wish people would be a little nicer when posting about people and things they dont know. Running a large home is not easy especially a county home. It takes more than one person to make it succeed or to make it fail. Years of decision making led gracedale to where it is today. Politics add to the challenge. Meeting material is carefully scripted. Politicians often do not want to tell the truth and limit what one can say at a meeting. Overall it is a team that has to be in place that passionately and with great knowledge has to lead. At this point all staff need to be involved in ongoing training and quality assurance through audits to help get them and keep them in compliance. I don't know the NHA but I do know it takes more than her to pull this out of a provisional and keep it sustainable. Offer some grace in your comments
You just stated it; namely, you do not understand NHA or LTC (long term care). A facility does not become one with a Provisional II license with an abuse warning unless it is in serious trouble. How did it get there and how did it go from Provisional I to Provisional II? Seems simple. Admitting residents whose care needs exceeded the capabilities of staff are one. Using 80 percent agency staff (vetted by who?) contributed probably as well. Add to that an administrator who has a degree in therapeutic recreation and no history of administrating a county home or a home as large as Gracedale is another addition. Changing the QA job description of another important job (formerly held by nursing) to a generic now staffed by someone with a TR background will be disaster. No picking here - just facts.
Someone should report that if they have direct knowledge of it.
Those facts are scary. I admit that. And I have decades of experience in long term care nursing management. They are in trouble for reasons you mention. All im saying is we should be professional with facts as you did. Point one they hired a nha with a TR background. Second no one has me.tioned the nursing director. And im in shock that the job description for quality improvement was changed and a TR person if true was hired. Look to who hired them both.
Therapeutic recreation?? Heaven help us.
Bernie you have to check into this one! We already needed heavens help and if this is true it is making my head explode!
She is hiding ALOT of stuff going on....a worker slapped a resident on T7 and that employee never got reprimanded and incident report went MISSING !!!! HELLOOOO
Masters in Public Health and Therapeutic Recreation Worked as Ombudsman and Recreational Therapy it appears
It boggles the mind that a sitting council member, Holland, who was a major player during the Premier Gracedale management program, is being ignored
and silenced by many who have not a clue on how to successfully run a nursing facility.
Totally agree. Hopefully Holland is "just getting warmed up".
Masters degree or not the federal regulations for SNF has to be well known as well as most and nursing to perform a quality assurance job. She won't be much help.
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