Oklahoma Nursing Home Closes Its Doors
Whispering Pines Nursing Center is no more. The facility relocated the final remaining residents but not all have permanent homes. Of the 128 residents, 25 were difficult to place due to mental health issues and four were temporarily placed in psychiatric hospitals for evaluations.
You might recall discussing this facility in previous blogs. Whispering Pines had its certification pulled due to numerous deficiencies uncovered by state health inspectors and lost its Medicare and Medicaid funding. There were many reported incidents at this facility, including:
- Allegations that an aide forced a patient into a shower with his clothing on;
- Multiple allegations that nursing home residents were assaulting each other;
- Allegations that abuse complaints were not properly investigated;
- Allegations that staff lacked training to deal with patients with mental health problems;
- Allegations that a social worker put patients at risk for contracting AIDS when failing to provide condoms to a sexually active HIV positive resident;
- Allegations that the Medical Director failed to ensure staff and residents were regularly tested for tuberculosis.
The investigation report was 370 pages and found 16 federal and 12 state deficiencies.
Wes Bledsoe of A Perfect Cause said, "They knew what was going on. The current employees and the former employees that called us said that they had gone to management time and time again." Dorya Huser, long-term care division chief for the state health agency, said, "Whispering Pines has chronic problems, and they're unable to provide us with any credible evidence that they could clear them up. We're looking out for the best interest of the people that live there and deserve a better standard of care."
