State faults 2 SETX nursing homes for Harvey evacuation problems

Port Arthur Detective Mike Hebert talks inside after officers and detectives finish loading filing cabinets, computers and other items into a pickup taken in the execution of a search warrant at the Lake Arthur Place nursing home Thursday. The home is under investigation for its actions and care of residents during the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Harvey. Photo taken Thursday, September 14, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise less Port Arthur Detective Mike Hebert talks inside after officers and detectives finish loading filing cabinets, computers and other items into a pickup taken in the execution of a search warrant at the Lake Arthur ... more Photo: Kim Brent / Beaumont Enterprise Photo: Kim Brent / Beaumont Enterprise Image 1 of / 65 Caption Close State faults 2 SETX nursing homes for Harvey evacuation problems 1 / 65 Back to Gallery

Two Port Arthur nursing homes accused of improperly evacuating residents during Tropical Storm Harvey were flagged by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for violating state and federal standards.

During and following the 2017 storm, Lake Arthur Place and Cypress Glen nursing home facilities “failed to keep their residents safe from the risk of harm,” agency spokeswoman Christine Mann wrote in an email to the Enterprise.

The state health agency has now verified dozens of violations — 25 at Cypress Glen and 31 at Lake Arthur Place — all dealing with either resident neglect, substandard quality of care and the physical environment, Mann said on Wednesday.

She said she did not have specific details on the violations.

The nursing homes, which have been closed since Harvey, have been under investigation by local and state authorities following the Aug. 30, 2017, evacuation in which Lake Arthur residents left in boats and trucks as the facility took on Harvey waters.

Residents were evacuated by officials and volunteers and transported to the Port Arthur Little Theatre before being taken to area hospitals.

About two weeks later, the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office and Port Arthur Police Department served a search warrant at Lake Arthur Place, alleging that the nursing home administrator was criminally negligent in evacuating residents.

Jefferson County prosecutor Cory Kneeland said the police investigation of Lake Arthur Place and Cypress Glen “is wrapping up” and will be brought to the district attorney’s office for review.

Port Arthur police did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

The state health agency has also recommended the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services deny Lake Arthur Place and Cypress Glen Medicaid payments for new residents and terminate their agreements to participate in the federal program.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can alter the recommendation, Mann noted. A representative from the federal agency did not respond to requests for comment.

Senior Care Centers, the Dallas-based company that owns the Port Arthur residencies, did not respond to requests for comment.

In a Sept. 2, 2017, statement regarding Harvey evacuation, the company said that “as employees of our Lake Arthur Place skilled nursing facility worked with authorities to ensure a timely, safe and organized evacuation of our residents amidst the chaos of Hurricane Harvey, residents of that facility were forcibly evacuated by unknown volunteers.

“Since that moment, we have continued to work tirelessly to locate and confirm the safety of the evacuated patients and residents. This has always been and will always be our highest priority.”

Mann said Senior Care Centers has the right to appeal and to request a hearing.

The licenses for the three nursing facility administrators who led Cypress Glen and Lake Arthur Place are also under review by the agency, she said.

The 2017 search warrant for Lake Arthur Place cited administrator Jeff Rosetta’s failure to evacuate residents or execute a safety plan before the storm hit and his behavior during a police-supervised evacuation on Aug. 30 “resulted in the injury of patients under the care of his facility.”

Neither Rosetta nor his attorney responded to a request for comment.

“There were several days of warning, and several days to prepare a plan and have the resources in place to execute the evacuation or any plan that would have provided adequate safety and living conditions for those elderly individuals,” Port Arthur police Detective Brian Fanette wrote in an affidavit attached to the search warrant.

Despite forecasters’ warnings of “catastrophic flooding,” Fanette wrote, “appropriate action by Rosetta did not timely occur.”

Detective Mike Hebert arrived in a boat at the facility about noon on Aug. 30 and found 10 to 12 inches water inside the building. Patients were in beds and wheelchairs in their rooms and in hallways, Hebert has said, and ones in wheelchairs “had their lower extremities submerged in the floodwaters.”

Hebert called the experience “very traumatic” for residents, their families and the officers who responded.

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