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Group Home in Margate Fails Inspection
• Poor training could be cause for missing resident
Sunday,
June 21, 2009
Just days before 73-year-old Alzheimer’s resident, Anna Smith, went missing on June 13 from the Embassy Retirement Home in Margate, the assisted living facility failed its biennial inspection by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
Embassy Retirement Home is one of several group homes in Margate licensed by AHCA. Every two years, Embassy undergoes an audit of resident and staff records and reports, staff standards and emergency management procedures in order to qualify for re-licensure.
This year, the home failed to meet re-licensure criteria and has until July 3, 2009 to make corrections.
According to AHCA Bureau Chief for Long-Term Care Facilities, Molly McKinstry, the disappearance of Smith is considered an ‘adverse incident’ and should have been reported to the state agency, but wasn’t, she said.
During Embassy’s inspection on June 3, 2009, the home failed to produce valid resident contracts for two of its four residents. They also failed to provide in-service training for one of five employees regarding the home’s elopement (runaway) policies and procedures.
In addition, Embassy:
Failed to submit a comprehensive emergency management plan to the county
Failed to produce valid employment applications for one of five employees
Failed to verify HIV and AIDS training for two of five employees
Failed to comply with background screening requirements for one of five employees
Depending on the severity of her Alzheimer’s, said McKinstry, Smith may or may not have been aware of the home’s elopement policies. Regardless, it’s the facility’s responsibility to look after her, she said.
Smith was found at Jackson Memorial Hospital the day after she went missing. An Embassy front desk employee told MargateNews.net – early in the a.m. on June 4 – that Smith had been found, but the employee didn’t comment on how Smith got to Miami or who found her.
According to a Margate Police report, the only emergency contact listed for the Embassy Retirement Home, Sandy Hishon, said she hadn’t spoken to Smith for months and didn’t know of any family or friends.
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