At 11 am, NorCo DA Steve Baratta will unveil the findings of a Grand Jury report about Gracedale. He had previously told County Council the report's focus would be "issues of patient safety that we were made aware of over the past year."
The home has been the focus of some bizarre happenings, from an agency nurse who attempted to perform an exorcism on a resident, a substance-abusing resident who was pocketing pain pills and several residents who wondered off and are retuned by police.
Gracedale is the only county-owned nursing home in the state with a Provisional II license. It also has been flagged by Medicare for abuse.
On the bright side, the home has been deficiency-free in five DOH (Dep't of Health) visits to the home since May 14. (The home has been visited 14 times by DOH this year).
Following Baratta's news conference, Executive Tara Zrinski will issue her own comments. She will include her newly appointed Continuum of Care Director, who himself acknowledged during the confirmation process that he has no training in nursing.
I hope his report is straight forward since council refuses to review the home's operations.
ReplyDeleteI do find it odd that, ever since Dave Holland's motion to create a separate Gracedale committee was adopted, nothing has happened. I meant to point this out and start asking why. There has been no oversight now for several months, the exact opposite of what a majority of Council voted to establish.
DeleteThis council and executive are paralyzed when it comes to taking responsible action. No response means they are hoping it will just go away.
DeleteIt won’t, they are in trouble, they never reached out for research or help from successful homes, the failures rest squarely on their shoulders.
Will Baratta be discussing his office’s abysmal record at trial. Northampton County has the worst conviction rate in the Commonwealth.
ReplyDeleteI suspect you pulled this attack out of your ass.
DeletePolice departments all over the county are upset with Baratta for dropping felony charges to summary offenses similar to traffic tickets
ReplyDeleteThen he should have numerous opponents should he decide to seek re-election. I have not heard from anyone.
DeleteNot sure about that 6:31, but I have heard complaints about plea deals even though it’s a slam dunk case. There seems to be an unwillingness to go to trial.
DeleteI had a client they had dead to rights on a 3rd offense DUI drug related. It was scheduled to go to trial a few times but that office bent over backwards to give my dude a deal. I was shocked at the whole situation because my dude had a terrible prior record and picked up new charges while the case was pending.
DeleteThis should be interesting. Will we have a Paul Harvey moment?
ReplyDeleteIt was noble to try but it’s time sell Gracedale. Complete disaster.
ReplyDeleteB I N G O!!!!!
DeleteWhen was the last time you visited GRACEDALE? Or placed a loved one there ?
DeleteI wouldn’t placing a loved one in a place that’s about to have its license yanked because it’s run so poorly.
DeleteYou never know WHEN , you or a loved one may need Gracedale. Many nursing homes will not accept certain residents in need. Obviously you have no clue how things work! Speaking from experience.
Delete9:02 So correct. Circumstances can change in an instant and all the planning in the world won't matter. I don't think anyone thinks Gracedale is the best option but sometimes it may be the only one left.
DeleteI wish the new oversite committee would meet with functional county-owned nursing homes to understand how they manage both financing and staff. Take Berks Heim Nursing Home. It’s an amazing place. It’s clean and huge and peaceful. From AI: “The Berks Heim county nursing home was financed primarily using local county funds and loans from the county’s general fund. When the current, more efficient 420-bed facility was built and completed in 2005, it cost $45 million (not including the land). This new structure was funded by Berks County taxpayers to replace the original 1952 facility, which was losing millions of dollars annually and draining the county's general fund.” Gracedale does not need to be rebuilt from scratch but lessons from others in how to run a county-owned, union-staffed home in the face of flat Medicaid reimbursement would be extremely helpful to Tara.
ReplyDeleteBuyer beware! Read my lips. Taxes are going up!
ReplyDelete@ 805.. Thank you Sherlock for pointing out the obvious! Read detective work you did there. That said they should go up! It’s been years since they have. And I’ll assume you are a fiscally conservative Republican and staunch supporter of Messiah Trump! That said why complain about paying a modest 20-40 dollars A YEAR on your medium sized home when your boy in Orange has us paying that much more a week just in gas and groceries. I too am a tax payer but I also know the county pays the same ridiculously high costs as we do for electricity, utilities, all the way down to printer paper. Get a grip! We only got a drop in taxes a few years back for political reasons (I.e. was election time). The measly 15 bucks or so I saved on my taxes for that little drop should have stayed in the counties fund. Everything goes up unfortunately the local leaders have to “be the bad guy or girl” and increase taxes to cover our presidents short falls. Let’s not get started on all the funding cut by Feds that used to go to counties for programs also.
DeleteRead my lips: educate yourself!
This Executive is in way over her head- every time she opens her mouth, I hold my breath.
DeleteI despise both political parties. I blame both for the economy and inflation. I've had had to cut expenses and watch my budget and delay or eliminate certain things. Fighting about politics doesn't help when it just plain sucks to deal with higher prices. It's never gotten better since covid. It's not unreasonable to expect our county to live within its means until things improve, and not saddle taxpayers with a bigger bill.
Delete@10:43am Well here is your Trump comment for the day. Can you stop your bitching and whining and stay on the actual topic for once. FYI It's Gracedale. And maybe start therapy for your mental illness.
DeleteFor some the crowd that stops in here, there is no love lost for Stephen Baratta and his judgment, virtually all have absolutely no use for the County Executive, and some of the "sell Gracedalers" from decades ago still hanging around. No matter what the announcement and counterpoint, this crowd will spew negativity....and it will bring them perverse joy. The real answer to Gracedale's concerns is consistent and enhanced County funding...oversight will tell that tale. Of course, that will trigger the "taxpayers can't afford it" set. Tlhere has not been the political will in County Administrations or Council to address that issue for twenty-five years, since raising taxes is political suicide, and the naysayers will be unsatisfied anyway.
ReplyDeleteYou really should wait for this to resolve before writing about it.
ReplyDeleteThat’s a ridiculous statement.
DeleteThe grand jury report is disturbing and disgraceful but it is unfortunately true. Tara is in so far over her head with this mess. So who is supposed to fix these problems? The continuum of care guy who has no experience in the nursing home business along with the clueless county executive? Apparently.
ReplyDeleteThis D.A. report is all because McClure and Zarinski both refused to give Baratta's staff a wage increase. It's get even time in the government center.
DeleteDoes Gracedale still host daily exorcisms or have they moved on to hosting covens and seances?
ReplyDeleteI'm struggling to believe Baratta. Sal Panto said the place was really nice.
ReplyDeleteBO. Help me understand what a grand jury report is? What is the purpose? Is it a part of a criminal investigation? I just don’t understand what the GJ role here is. Not disputing and any public review is good . I just don’t know the GJ role hear. Thanks for the posting
ReplyDelete“… from an agency nurse who attempted to perform an exorcism…”
ReplyDeleteThe exorcism obviously failed. The county is still keeping Gracedale open.
Supposedly Tara is disputing the report? There you have it folks! Disgraceful!
ReplyDeleteAnon 10:43 said this about county taxes:
ReplyDelete“That said they should go up! It’s been years since they have.”
This is the dumbest statement ever written, since it ignores reality. The facts are that as development has occurred in the county, property tax collections have increased.
Those warehouses we all hate? They pay a lot more tax than the farmland they replaced. I’m not commenting on whether replacing farmland with warehouses is good or not, I’m just pointing out the reality of county tax collections.
The fact is that county property tax revenue is at record levels. The problem is that so is county spending.
Instead of proposing and approving a tax hike, Zrinski and council should be looking to make the spending cuts that they’ve put off for the last 8 years (maybe longer).
I suspect that Anon 10:43 is a member of county government. Only a politician could be so stupid.
He's just some big mouth know it all who likes to bitch about Trump and Republicans on every single comment. You can just tell he can't hold a civil conversation to save his life. It's actually sad and pathetic cause even if he has valid points no one listens cause he's so annoying.
DeleteProbably the same guy who wants to increase the state income tax because “it hasn’t been raised in decades” totally oblivious that it’s a percentage of wages earned and wages have risen A LOT in the last 20 years.
DeleteHas anyone ever served on a grand jury? I have at the Federal level. This is a dedicated group of individuals who only want the truth. We swear to it! For Tara and the gang to dispute this is disgraceful. To pull in others to continue this lie is unbelievable.
ReplyDelete