Northampton County Council voted on July 2 to establish a Gracedale Oversight Committee. Over three months later, and after a critical Grand Jury Report, it will finally have its inaugural meeting today at 3:45 pm. It was scheduled during a non-meeting week and in the middle of the afternoon in what appears to be an attempt to discourage some Council members from attending.
The Committee is chaired by Council member Kelly Keegan, who voted against its formation. Council President Ken Kraft, who also voted against establishing this committee, is also a member. The other two members are Council members Dave Holland, who proposed this review panel, as well as Theresa Fadem.
The Committee will first review a 2023 operational assessment that was ordered by a previous County Council over the objections of then Exec Lamont McClure. When Gracedale Administrator Michelle Morton appeared before County Council on November 6, she admitted that she had never read the report and appeared to be unaware of it. When she testified before an Investigating Grand Jury on 12/30/25, she still had failed to read it.
The Committee is slated to receive a report from Tom Carson, the newly appointed Director of the newly established Continuum of Care. He has no experience in nursing home administration or nursing but said he would bring leadership and would speak to every employee at Gracedale. I'd like to know if he has.
There will then be a discussion of "public image," which obviously is suffering as a result of both a critical Grand Jury Report as well as the numerous and serious deficiencies at the home since Michelle Morton became Administrator. Keegan likes to say she wants to hear about all the good things at the home. I'll be happy to report on objective findings like an upgrade in the Provisional II license or the removal of the abuse tag and a drop in the number of deficiencies. Unfortunately, the scuttlebutt is that the home has been cited with three new deficiencies within the past three weeks.
Morton is slated to make her own presentation. I'd like her to explain how she is entitled to a one-step increase in salary when the home has been cited repeatedly since she's been there, and as recently as three weeks ago if the rumors are true.
I'd like to know why the DON, ADONs and assistant administrator are getting two-step raises in a home that is seriously challenged, especially when other career service workers are overlooked. This hardly restores morale.
I'd like to know if a protocol has been established on handling 911 calls. I find it astonishing that, as of the date of the Grand Jury Report's publication, there still was no understanding on such an important public safety issue. Over 15 months have ensued since numerous 911 calls were made before Upper Nazareth police responded to a mentally ill nurse who was performing an exorcism. On at least two occasions, nurses said nothing was going on. Has a protocol been established? What is it?
Recently, at Executive Tra Zrinski's request, County Council voted to establish significant payraises for 26 nursing supervisors ($52 an hour). Zrinski claimed that some agency nurses told her they would become county employees if this happened. How many agency nurses have become county employees? How many nursing supervisors have been hired since this increase?
Gracedale needs $12 million from the county coffers in 2027. Previously, Administrator Michelle Morton and Human Services Director Sue Wandalowski assured Council that Gracedale would be only slightly over budget. What happened? Before proposing a continuum of care, did Zrinski do a long-range plan about finances as well as the trend for seniors to age in place rather than be packed like sardines in a warehouse to await their deaths?
How much should taxpayers have to spend to keep Gracedale operational? Sure, there's a moral obligation to care for the elderly, but that should include seniors on fixed incomes who are struggling to pay taxes.
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