Patients `Abandoned` at Closed Calif. Care Facility

Oct. 28--The state's social services agency defended its actions Sunday after the botched closure of a Castro Valley residential care facility forced sick and elderly residents to fend for themselves until paramedics arrived.

Most of the staff at the Valley Manor Residential Care facility apparently walked out on the residents Thursday, the day the California Department of Social Services ordered the site closed. The mass exodus left 14 clients, some of them bedridden, virtually alone for three days in filthy conditions with nowhere to go.

Michael Weston, the spokesman for the Department of Social Services, acknowledged that the state was responsible for overseeing operations and monitoring the shutdown after the home's license was suspended indefinitely, but he said the department staff cannot operate the facility.

"The department worked with Alameda County adult protective services and law enforcement, but the licensee is ultimately responsible for ensuring that there is adequate staff for the care and supervision of the residents," Weston said Sunday. "What happened was not the plans that were put in place and the agreement we had with the licensee. Clearly something went wrong and, as far as whether the department was at fault, we're going to look into whether there was more that could have been done."

Staff picked up and left

The state allowed the care facility, which is licensed to and operated by Herminigilda "Hilda" N. Manuel and Mary Julleah N. Manuel, to stay open over the weekend despite the closure order. The idea was to give workers time to find new housing for the residents, but the situation evidently got out of control when most of the care facility staff picked up and left. On Saturday, an overwhelmed skeleton crew called 911.

"The indication was that staff was going to be there to operate the facility throughout the weekend, while the licensee found other places for the residents," Weston said. "At some point (Saturday), the staff felt that they could no longer provide adequate care and supervision, so they contacted law enforcement."

The residents were all taken by ambulance to other centers in the county. None of them suffered any additional health problems, according to Weston, but assisted care facilities are required by law to provide adequate care and supervision even if their license is being revoked.

In this case, only a cook, a janitor and at most two caretakers stayed at the facility -- for no pay -- out of what Alameda County Sheriff's investigators said was a sense of responsibility.

Sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson said a criminal investigation is being conducted into the possibility of elder abuse.

The Manuels could not be reached for comment Sunday. No one answered the door at their home on a cul-de-sac in the San Leandro hills. A neighbor who did not want to be identified confirmed that the Manuels live in the two-story house.

The problems at Valley Manor, at 17926 Apricot Way, date back even before 2007 when the Manuels were first certified to be administrators for elderly care facilities. Neighbors petitioned the state about a decade ago to revoke the license of the facility, which is in a quiet, residential neighborhood on a hill overlooking downtown Castro Valley. The neighbors claimed mentally ill residents were harassing passers-by, flashing teenage girls and women, littering, and loitering outside the single-story building.

"It was hell," said Ben Simbra, who has lived across the street for 25 years.

Turn for the worse

As a result, the state ordered the facility to reduce the number of beds from 44 to 33, and barred mentally ill residents. Valley Care was mostly quiet after that, Simbra and other neighbors said, until about six months ago, when things took a turn for the worse. Ambulances and fire trucks came by the facility almost daily, they said.

The license revocation complaint filed by the Department of Social Services details dozens of violations since 2008 at the home in Castro Valley and two others operated by the Manuels in Oakland and Modesto. The Oakland facility is now under new management.

The problems outlined in the complaint include a general lack of training among staff and a failure by the licensees to check the criminal records of employees.

Workers at the three facilities repeatedly failed to give residents necessary medications, did not clean medication cups between uses and were occasionally unavailable to transport clients to doctor's appointments, the complaint said. One resident in the Castro Valley home suffered a diabetic episode and was hospitalized because the home did not have the correct glucose monitoring strips. Another client had a seizure because there was no antiseizure medication at Valley Manor, according to the complaint.

Other clients never got treated for injuries, including falls, many of which were either improperly reported or not reported at all.

'Deplorable' conditions

The complaint claims some residents were moved to other facilities without being given any options, and that family members were not properly notified. The care home licensees did not maintain or clean their facilities, leaving rodent droppings in the food pantry, dirty silverware and rotten meat lying around, and urine and feces on the walls and in the rooms, according to the department. There were also fire code violations and a lack of supervision that resulted in one client with dementia having to be picked up by police and returned to the Castro Valley facility.

Fights also occasionally broke out, resulting in the hospitalization of one Castro Valley resident after another client threw boiling water on him, the complaint said.

The care home is now empty, with yellow police tape surrounding it. Coors beer cans were on the back patio Sunday, and cigarette butts littered the yard. Several rat traps lined the back walls. The front door was adorned with a bright orange cardboard pumpkin and paper Easter eggs lined the inside, but a foul odor permeated the place.

In the dining room, half-eaten plates of food sat on the tables.

"I'm relieved it's over now," Simbra said. "We were all worried about the safety of the residents."

The Oakland facility, Eden Manor on 3121 Fruitvale Ave., closed in March and reopened under new management and under the name Woodpark. Woodpark's marketing director, Linda Iwamoto, described conditions at Eden Manor when she took over as "deplorable."

Carolyn Jones and Peter Fimrite are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: carolynjones@sfchronicle.com, pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite

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