Investigating Grand Jury Releases Report Raising Serious Resident Safety Concerns and Poor Leadership at Gracedale

Yesterday, NorCo A Steve Baratta released the results and recommendations of a 44-page Grand Jury Report* concerning resident safety issues at Gracedale, the county-run nursing home. The grand jury found serious weaknesses in the way that the long-term care facility has cared for its residents, and jurors felt the gravity of these problems warranted public attention and corrective action. No single person was blamed. The report instead points to a combination of questionable management, the use of outside agency nurses, failure to provide appropriate care, poor security and a lack of accountability. 19 Grand Jurors voted to file the report, with another three absent. 

Interestingly, Executive Tara Zrinski, who likes to call herself the very model of a modern major Executive, actually tried to have the report sealed or quashed without the public ever seeing a word. She failed. That's another story, and I'll fill you in on that next week. 

The genesis of this Grand Jury probe was a Gracedale agency nurse who on 6/23/25 was attempting to perform an exorcism on one of three residents who share a room. Multiple 911 calls had to be made over 30 minutes before Upper Nazareth Tp police responded. In the second call, a nursing supervisor told 911 she had already checked the situation, (Pges 13-14). In a third, a nursing supervisor told 911 she was going to "take [the complaining resident's] phone away or something." Police finally responded when a nursing supervisor herself personally witnessed an agency nurse who wouldn't let anyone in or out of the room. (Pge 14). When Officer Zach Dugan arrived on scene, he could see that the agency nurse, festooned in PPE gear, had her hand and fingers inside the resident's mouth. She indicated the resident had "demons inside of her" and they needed to come out, along with a considerable amount of blood.  

Baratta said that the victim of this attack was severely injured and never recovered. She died not long after the attack, but from unrelated causes.

The agency nurse has been charged with a litany of crimes, and that matter is still pending. 

After this incident, DA Baratta sought and was granted permission to conduct a Grand Jury investigation, which was headed by Deputy DA Bill Blake and Detective Brad Jones. Baratta himself questioned Gracedale Administrator Michelle Morton. 

At a news conference announcing the report, Baratta warned reporters to expect "some pushback." That's putting it mildly. Not only was Baratta accused of interfering with the Executive branch, but he's also been accused of having a political motive. "My response to this is, read the report," he said.  

I did. It's devastating. 

Deficiencies. - It consists of a factual documentation of 14 state Department of Health citations in 2025, all of which occurred under the tenure of Gracedale Administrator Michelle Moton. This is substantially more than 3 minor inspection deficiencies in 2023 and just 2 in 2024, when Gracedale was administered by Jennifer Stewart. (Pges. 5, 6-12).  

These reports chronicle assaults that extend beyond the exorcist nurse and include resident-on-resident violence resulting in injuries.  

They include elopements, which are runaways by residents who've been identified as incapable of caring for themselves. One of them involved a man who was gone for more than 24 hours and was located by Upper Nazareth Police sleeping outside a convenience store. Another involved a wheelchair bound double amputee who was tooling along the local roads with no place to go. There was even a fellow who left Gracedale to visit his girlfriend at Fox's Gentleman's club. He was found in Moore Tp. 

Some of these elopements were supposed to be under 1 to 1 supervision.

They include failure to provide the medication or rehabilitative care prescribed by doctors. One resident with partial paralysis missed 19 days of prescribed exercises. Medication carts have been left unsecured.

Read the report. 

Witnesses. - The Grand Jury report includes summaries of testimony elicited from witnesses, including the officers who responded to the exorcist. Officer Clinton Wambold, a former Deputy Sheriff, said that Gracedale staff made "little or no effort" to stop the exorcist when she was assaulting the Gracedale resident. He also noted that Gracedale staff disposed of or cleaned all the clothing or gowns involved in the assault, making it impossible for him to collect physical evidence. (Pge. 19). Officer Danielle Petrucci testified of one assault involving two residents. The aggressor was supposed to be under 1 on 1 supervision but was not. The victim of that assault suffered a cognitive and physical decline, is now bedridden and unable to interact with others.  (Pge 20). She also testified that members of the nursing staff were found sleeping at their desks while police were present. (Pge. 22).

Michelle Morton, Gracedale's Administrator, was examined by Baratta. Affinity Health Services prepared a county council funded report in 2023 that conducted an analysis of the problems at Gracedale, but she told council on November 6 that she had never read the report. She still had failed to read it when she was questioned by Baratta on 12/30/25. 

With respect to the deficiencies found under her watch in 2025, "Morton's response to the claims was that an inspection is only a moment in time and not a reflection that overall, things were poor. She appeared to minimize the documented infractions, as well as her role in the prevention of those matters. She also denied that staffing shortages contributed to the documented deficiencies."  (Pge. 27)  

Her plan for recruiting new employees? Staff development and training initiatives. And she likes committees. She certainly seemed to accept that nurses can bully each other, telling Baratta that "nurses eat their young." (Pge. 29)

Jennifer Stewart, Gracedale's former Administrator, worked at Gracedale from 2005 until she resigned in 2026. She started as a CNA and worked her way up until she was appointed Administrator in 2019. As she approached retirement age, she decided to step back into her former role as Director of Admissions so she could act as a mentor to her replacement. When she attempted to help Morton, she was rebuffed. (Pge. 37). 

Although she had never been reprimanded in any way during her tenure at Gracedale, that changed when Morton arrived. Instead of asking for help, Morton gave Stewart a "Program Improvement Plan" mandating her to increase census to 525-530. Morton instructed Stewart to admit everyone. "Morton also usurped Stewart's authority as Director of Admissions by reviewing, and in many cases, overriding admission denials in cases where Stewart believed that the resident was not an appropriate candidate for Gracedale." (Pge. 38). She felt she was being micromanaged and decided to resign and accepted a position as Administrator at a nursing home in Bethlehem. 

"Stewart is extremely knowledgeable in the field of nursing home administration, and it is clear that Gracedale benefitted from her knowledge and leadership. She believes that Gracedale was thriving under the management of Premiere Healthcare, although she feels it took a step back under the administration of ray Soto. Stewart strongly believes that the prior county administration failed the residents at Gracedale by canceling the partnership with Premiere Healthcare, by forcing an increase in census at the expense of patient safety, and by forcing reliance on outside nursing agencies. It is clear to the Grand Jury that Stewart truly cares for the wellbeing of the residents at Gracedale and served the county effectively when she was Gracedale's Administrator."

The Grand Jury recommends that (1) Gracedale move away from agency nursing to county-employed personnel; (2) revise policies concerning administration; (3) Beef up security; (4) create a liaison or ombudsman with specialized training in proper administration of a nursing home; (5) require supervisors to physically check each 911 call and document each matter; (6) establish in-house training for CNAs; and (7) establish a protocol with Upper Nazareth police concerning 911 calls.  

Baratta made clear that he is making no recommendation that Gracedale be sold. 

"However, we have to also remember that government is designed to provide services and services to the medically needy, vulnerable, elderly people that need assisted care, needs to be reliable and safe. They cannot provide for their own safety. They rely on us to provide that care. So, my hope is that these recommendations, and the publication of these issues, will further spur discussion and debate, in county government, and in the community, and that in the long run, we're going to be able to make Gracedale a safer, more productive personal care facility. And be successful into the future."

Right after Baratta had finished with us, we sauntered down the hall for yet another press conference being conducted by Executive Tara Zrinski, who had tried unsuccessfully to suppress the Grand Jury's report. So much for transparency.

I'll tell you about what she had to say on Monday in response to some tough questioning by your truly. You can also read her attempt to quash the Grand Jury report because it's attached to the report. You can also read former Executive Lamont McClure's bashing of just about everyone who isn't named Lamont McClure.  He calls the report a political hit job designed to ruin his congressional bid even though the report was not released until well after the primary in which he finished 3rd of 4. 

Finally, I'll fill you in on how the court handled Zrinski's attempt to suppress a Grand Jury report being released precisely to provide the transparency sorely needed at Gracedale.     

*) You can read the entire report on my Google Drive. I tried to upload the Grand Jury Report to Scribd, but that third party hosting site is currently inoperable.