On June 23, 2025, repeated calls to 911 occurred when Octavia Robinson, an agency nurse who was suffering some sort of mental health breakdown, decided to perform an exorcism on a resident (E.B.) by assaulting her. In addition to sticking fingers down E.B.'s throat and stuffing clothes and towels into E.B's mouth, Robinson was seen pounding E.B.'s back and chest with her fist, screaming that there was a demon inside E.B. This assault continued for 30 minutes before police responded. She was seriously injured and died shortly after the assault though her death was unrelated to the assault.
In the 14 months that have passed since this incident, the county has yet to establish an official protocol with police concerning 911 calls and what is or is not an emergency. My understanding is that when receiving a 911 call, the dispatcher will first contact Gracedale to determine whether there is a real emergency. But no formal policy has been established, even after residents made multiple calls to 911 about a mentally ill nurse who was allegedly assaulting a resident. On June 23, three calls had to be made before a nursing supervisor got off her ass to check out the complaint. Then it was she who placed the fourth call.
It is this incident, and an obvious breakdown in communications between Gracedale and Upper Nazareth police, that led District Attorney Steve Baratta to commence a Grand Jury investigation. You would think that something that sparked a grand jury investigation might induce Gracedale and county administrators to establish a formal policy. According to Upper Nazareth Tp Police Chief William Cope, he has reached out several times and has written to the county but has been ignored.
At Wednesday's Gracedale Oversight Committee hearing, Continuum of Care Director Tom Carson told Council member Jason Boulette that he asked for a meeting but has received no response.
But he only asked for a meeting this week. ... 14 months after an assault in which a resident could easily have been killed.
Boulette told Carson that Chief Cope requested a meeting in June and after the Grand Jury report, releases a statement saying that he had followed up on that letter and had requested a meeting.
"I've been in contact with him," said Boulette. "I know he's been reaching out and trying to get a meeting."
I don't know about you, but I am simply astonished that Gracedale has made no effort to establish a formal 911 protocol. Administrator Michelle Morton should have been on top of this as soon as it became clear that three 911 calls were made before a nursing supervisor decided to do her job.
This is clear mismanagement, and it has continued until now.
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