The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services suspended the license of a Kent Adult Family Home due to “numerous violations that jeopardized the safety and well-being of residents,” according to paperwork from the state agency.
The suspension means the home, located at 12028 251st Place in Kent, must stop admitting residents and that the residents living at the home must be moved to other “settings,” or care facilities. Those residents have been moved, according to dshs officials.
The suspension went into effect March 5.
According to a letter sent to home operator Stevan Bachici, a Feb. 18 inspection of the facility determined that “residents are in imminent danger.”
“Because of these conditions, the department has further determined that safeguarding the health, safety and welfare of residents imperatively requires emergency action,” the letter, written Feb. 20, states.
Attempts by the Reporter to reach Bachici or the James Family Home through publicly listed numbers, as well as those on record with DSHS, rang at a private Kent residence apparently unaffiliated with James Family Home.
The Feb. 20 DSHS letter outlined three “serious deficiencies” as well as seven “significant deficiencies.”
At the top of the state’s “serious deficiencies” was the ability of the facility to provide care and service. According to the letter, Bachici left the country while the home was in foreclosure, and the staff in charge did not have the “skills, ability or authority to ensure residents remained safe.”
The state also cited Bachici for failing to ensure staff was available, which allegedly led to one resident being forced to wait “outside in the cold” for more than two hours.
The statement from the state alleges that the resident, whose diagnosis is described as “paranoid schizo-affective disorder with hallucinations, mood swings, irritability and resistance to care,” as well being wheelchair-bound, returned to the home from a Feb. 5 appointment and discovered no one there and the door locked.
Dressed in black stockings and a skirt, the resident was given a blanket by a realtor who described her as “shivering cold” and was left outside for at least two hours.
The complaint also alleges Bachici and his wife were asleep in the home at the time, though not answering phone calls from the realtor.
According to the resident, it was the second occasion in which she was locked out, although on the first occasion a sliding-glass door was left open so the resident could re-enter the home.
According to the statement of deficiencies, staff members were also not knowledgeable in fire regulations, and one indicated she had never participated in a fire drill at the home.
Another staff member was allegedly hired without receiving the necessary background check and failed to ensure that all staff members had the necessary qualifications and credentials.
One staff member was discovered not to have a high school diploma or equivalent nor documentation of mental-health training (three residents had mental-illness diagnoses). A second staff member did not have a food handler’s permit.
A third staff member’s records showed no food handler’s certification, no mental-health orientation, no tuberculosis training and no first aid training.
The statement of deficiencies also alleges that a resident who is diabetic was not given the proper monitoring and blood-sugar checks.
State officials declined to comment beyond the scope of the documents.
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