Zrinski's Attempts to Minimize Grand Jury Report in Defensive and Evasive News Conference

Immediately after last week's release of a 44-page Grand Jury report calling for reforms at Gracedale, NorCo Executive Zrinski conducted her own high-noon news conference from inside the acoustically challenged rotunda of the courthouse. Her newly-appointed Continuum of Care Director and Gracedale's Administrator stood by her as she said the District Attorney's investigation should be met with "seriousness, transparency and resolve." While her resolve is beyond question, she has been far from transparent. She actually tried to have the report sealed (more about that later) so that the public would never see it. Moreover, instead of treating the probe with gravity, she minimized it and was both defensive and evasive when responding to questions. 

She started by tugging on heartstrings instead of facts. noting that Gracedale had cared for her mother and provided excellent care when Zrinski was a member of County Council. She has now told this story many times as a member of County Council and several times as Executive. I'm sure her mother did receive a high level of care because, after all, she was the mother of member of County Council. Funny thing, Gracedale's Administrator at that time was Jennifer Stewart, who has since been scapegoated for all the problems. In fact, right after praising Gracedale for looking after her mom, Zrinski said that many of its problem501c3 s came while Stewart was Administrator. 

Her solutions? She's issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a feasibility study on her "continuum of care" expansion. She's established a non-profit 501c3 to receive philanthropic support. She added that she would strengthen executive oversight with the hiring of a Continuum of Care Director whose background is therapeutic recreation and has no experience in nursing home administration.  

She also claimed to be improving communication and transparency. It must have been hard to talk about transparency with a straight face after her unsuccessful attempt to prevent the public from seeing the Grand Jury report. The improved communications have consisted mostly of feel-good stories about things like chair volleyball and a luau.   

When it came time for questions, WFMZ-TV69 had concerns about what steps were being taken to address how police should respond to 911 calls, which can be baseless when coming from residents with cognitive issues. This issue came to a head well over a year ago when 911 calls about an exorcist nurse were being ignored, both by police and even by Gracedale nurses. They claimed falsely to have checked on the matter but did nothing until after a third 911 call. 

A year later, Zrinski's response was "I don't believe I can address that right now." She then slammed Upper Nazareth police. "I'm sorry that answer could not be more clear, but it is ... um ... working with the Upper Nazareth police force has been somewhat challenging."

More than a year has passed since this incident, yet there still is no protocol on how to respond to 911 calls from a facility with 500 elderly and residents? 

While WFMZ-TV69 attempted to decipher exactly what Zrinski had just said, I had a question of my own. I pointed out that, in 2023, Medicare issued 3 minor deficiencies when Jennifer Stewart was at the helm. In 2024, there were just two. But in 2025, once Michelle Morton took the reins, there were 14 deficiency reports for serious shortcomings that extended well beyond a mentally ill nurse. They included residents who wandered off, poor security, physical assaults and failure to provide care that had been prescribed by doctors.

"Under these circumstances, how can you possibly justify keeping Michelle Morton as the Administrator of Gracedale, especially when her own testimony indicates that nurses like to eat their young?"

Zrinski: "I think you're assuming that everything in that report is accurate and true."

Me: "That is her testimony."

Zrinski: "I understand her testimony."

Me: "I understand that everything is true because those are the deficiency reports that are on the record. They're on record. Department of Health deficiency reports. Gracedale has paid significant fines as a result of these deficiency reports. There are 14 reports ...."

Zrinski: "I understand what you're saying, Mr. O'Hare, if you let me finish the question, I will respond to you. So there's an admissions process and there are individuals who are admitted years before [Morton] got there."

She went on to blame the McClure administration for increasing census. And she failed to acknowledge it, but the Grand Jury report shows that Morton was all about accepting new residents no matter how unsuitable they might be. Morton actually placed Jennifer Stewart, the Admissions Director, under a mandate to increase census, and even would override Stewart's admission denials. She slammed an "admissions director who let anybody in," which has been a common theme at Gracedale. Morton has managed to make the former Administrator, Jennifer Stewart, a scapegoat for her own admissions errors.  These errors were the result of a previous executive, Lamont McClure, who wanted quantity over quality.  Yet Zrinski insisted that Morton "has my confidence." 

Transparent Zrinski then went on to say she'd rather have questions from someone other than me. That's OK. But I was not done. 

Zrinski went on to slam DA Steve Baratta for bringing Gracedale "out in the public forum. ... This has been a public discussion in nearly every election cycle. Gracedale has been a political football. Sell it, save it. Sell it, save it, sell it, save it are always the priorities of candidates running. I want to take that out of the political sphere and make it more about care and treatment. It shouldn't be an open discussion that we're arguing about all the time. These are people's lives. These are people's jobs."

Me: "There are no county offices up this year. So where do you get the idea that this is some form of political football?"

Zrinski: "I said, in the history, it has been a political football. How many different rallies have you gone to or how many different discussions?"

Me: "Right now we're talking about what's going on at Gracedale, how we can improve it, what's wrong with it ...'

Zrinski: "Mr. O'Hare, I think you know better than anybody else that there are motivations that are political for anybody to put a report out about Gracedale."

Me: "So you are saying that DA Baratta had a political motive?"

Zrinski: "I'm not suggesting it. I'm saying it could possibly exist."

Me: "You're saying it could possibly exist?"

Zrinski: "Sure."

Me: "But it could also be that he genuinely desires to see Gracedale improve."

Zrinski: "He has no authority or experience to make recommendations for Gracedale."

Me: "You say he has no authority or experience. What is your background in administration.?"

Zrinski: "I am not making these recommendations. I am following the recommendations of other individuals who know how nursing homes run."

She was talking over me, but at that time I was pointing out that her newly appointed Continuum of Care Director and Administrator have backgrounds in therapeutic recreation.

Me: "Why did you speak against an oversight committee for Gracedale? When you're saying you want to be transparent, why would you oppose an oversight committee?"

Zrinski: "I'm not opposed to an oversight committee. What I was guarding was county council's overreach. When you create a continuum of care department, you're supposed to create a continuum of care committee. That should be the level of oversight. And it has four members on it."

Me: "Is County Council the governing body?"

Zrinski: "Yes."

Zrinski, who is used to bloviating at length, decided to cut the presser short. 

Tomorrow, I'll tell you how the court reacted to Zrinski's failed attempt to keep you from seeing the Grand Jury report.