ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A troubled Rochester nursing home was supposed to close its doors, but it hasn’t found placement for 20 residents. The closing date for Waterview is set for Tuesday.
The Department of Health mandates the facility stay open until every resident is placed in another nursing home. But as News10NBC Reporter Deanna Dewberry has learned, there are more Waterview residents who have no place to go.
Some Waterview residents now in hospitals
Right now, nine Waterview residents are being cared for in local hospitals. Because Waterview is closing, those hospitals will have to find nursing home care. The likelihood that care will be in Rochester is growing slimmer with each passing day.
Each time sirens signal a patient transfer from a nursing home to the emergency room, we see evidence of the community crisis of caring for older adults.
Conversation with the owner of Senior Care Authority of Rochester
“We already had a severe shortage of nursing home beds in Rochester, New York. This is the reason our hospitals operate at 120% of capacity,” Mike Kearney said, the owner of Senior Care Authority of Rochester.
Deanna: “So by solving the problem of closing Waterview, we are exacerbating another problem?”
“We absolutely are,” Kearney said.
Now hospitals will have to find homes for some former Waterview residents as well.
Waterview resident taken to Strong Memorial Hospital
Samuel Imbergia is one of five Waterview residents recently transferred to Strong Memorial Hospital for treatment. Earlier this week he fell at Waterview and suffered a head injury. Because he can’t go back to Waterview, social workers at Strong will have to find a permanent nursing home.
“I’m very concerned. I’m not giving them permission to make him go out of town. They don’t have my permission for that,” Dolores Imbergia said.
Imbergia, 85-years-old, has been married to Samuel for more than five decades. Being forced to put him in Waterview was heartbreaking.
“All I was worried about was him. I cared about him,” Imbergia said.
She doesn’t drive so for two years she’s been riding the bus to visit him at least three times a week.
Deanna: “Would she consider a nursing home in Buffalo or Syracuse?”
“I won’t allow that,” Imbergia said.
But she may have no choice.
Finding placement
Few understand the crisis as well as Mike Kearney. He’s a consultant who helps older adults navigate placement in area nursing homes or assisted living facilities.
Deanna: “How optimistic are you that they will be able to find placement within a 25-mile radius?”
“If I were a betting man I would say a significant number of those people will end up far outside of that circle of 25 miles,” Kearney said.
An upcoming rally and an investigation
For these residents and their families, this process has been traumatic. Groups like the Elder Justice Committee of Metro Justice say there simply has not been enough support for these residents and their families. They want answers and are hosting a rally for long-term care reform this Sunday at Washington Square Park.
Investigators from the Attorney General’s office have questioned residents about their treatment at Waterview.
Watch News10NBC’s investigative stories
Here are some of the stories that News10NBC’s Deanna Dewberry has done about Waterview Heights and oversight for local nursing homes:
Consumer Investigation: Waterview resident said he’s kicked out without notice, left homeless News10NBC Investigates: Waterview’s plan to find beds for more than 160 residents News10NBC Investigates: Going inside nursing homes to see whether they’re following transparency laws Investigates: Exclusive video inside Waterview Heights sheds light on resident’s fall from window Consumer Investigation: 5 of the worst-rated nursing homes in Monroe County overdue for state inspections Sources say patient who fell from window and died at Waterview was living in psychiatric wing Consumer Investigation: Waterview Heights closure forces more than 160 residents to find new care placements Consumer Investigation: Inspection raises questions about deaths of 4 residents News10NBC Investigation: Allegations of neglect at Waterview Heights Nursing HomeConsumer Investigation: Waterview closure leaves residents without placement as hospitals help WHEC.com.
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