FORT WORTH -- In February, a young woman was found dead in her apartment at the state's largest assisted-living center. Nearby on her coffee table were an empty bottle of hydrocodone, a piece of a broken glass pipe and crack cocaine.
The medical examiner ruled her death a recreational-drug overdose, and she became yet another statistic at Westchester Plaza, state records show.Now the 300-bed facility for the poor, elderly and infirm, on Summit Avenue two miles from downtown, is under state scrutiny and the threat of a federal takeover if serious licensure violations and financial hardships cannot be overcome.Survival depends on whether Westchester's nonprofit owner can strike a deal with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to restructure debt on some $20 million in tax-exempt bonds it received in 2008.It defaulted on them in March."It is proceeding," said Doug Sweeney, president of WGH Heritage, the facility's owner, regarding the loan restructuring. "I am under a confidentiality agreement with the lender and unable to further discuss."Sweeney also declined to discuss the number of apparent tragedies outlined in hundreds of pages of state complaint records obtained by the Star-Telegram under the Texas Public Information Act.Westchester has had 68 health and safety violations since Jan. 1, according to records of the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services.All told, the facility had six times as many complaints as two of Texas' largest assisted-living centers combined. The other facilities -- the Hampton in Stafford and the Summit at Northwest Hills in Austin -- had 11 complaints combined and no violations, state records show. Each facility has 200 to 240 beds.Two months ago, state inspectors substantiated a complaint that diabetics had gone a week without insulin and one had to be hospitalized. During the same visit, inspectors found that residents with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder had spent a week without medication to stabilize problem behaviors, the records show.The state has declared two incidents of "immediate jeopardy" -- situations that place the health and safety of one or more residents at risk -- in the past year but won't release information about the results of the investigations until they are completed, DADS spokeswoman Cecilia Cavuto wrote in an e-mail response to questions from the Star-Telegram."Neither of those investigations has been finalized yet," she wrote. "Once they have been finalized, I will be able to share more details with you."Sweeney said that declarations of "immediate jeopardy" have been addressed. He also said that the owners expect to challenge the state on some of the five dozen violations in an administrative appeal.He could not provide more details, he said."I am unable to respond to DADS allegations due to privacy concerns," Sweeney wrote in an e-mail response to Star-Telegram questions. "...therefore, [we] cannot discuss them at this time."Meanwhile, residents and their families struggle to endure.Greg Miller said his 37-year-old girlfriend, a Westchester resident who has multiple sclerosis, collected dozens of signatures from fellow residents to try to pressure corrective action."She tries to speak out for everyone," he said.But Miller, like others who have loved ones in the building, say similar efforts haven't led to improved conditions.Bedbugs are rampant in some apartments, records show. One family member of a deceased resident accused owners of misappropriating the resident's federal assistance checks, reports show.The most serious threat to health and safety, though, appears to be inadequate staff to meet medical needs, records show.In the last year and a half, state inspectors have linked some patient deaths to staffing shortages. At least two more residents were found dead in their apartments late last year, state records showed, after they complained that the facility's staff had not provided them with medications. Since Jan. 1, state inspectors have substantiated a number of complaints that residents aren't receiving medications. On some days, from 2 to 10 p.m., three attendants must handle the needs of hundreds, inspectors found.Miller's girlfriend needs pain medication but has to wait hours, he said. Schizophrenics and others with mental disorders often become aggressive without their medications, and fights can break out in dining areas, state investigators found.Inspectors' reports this year also raised new concerns of nutritional deficiencies on diets for diabetics, but the owners' response is that a food contractor would be sure to use diabetic menus.Families say they are trapped because they have no place to put loves ones. Many similar facilities won't take people with mental illnesses and other serious conditions."Where am I going to put him?" said the family member of one resident who has lived at Westchester for years. "I have no other place except a nursing home to put him, and he's too young to go there."State inspectors will keep tabs on the facility's financial outlook as the state demands to know of stresses that could affect patient care."For example, if they are unable to buy needed food or supplies or pay staff, they must report that to us," Cavuto said.WGH Heritage's purchase of Westchester was financed by "conduit" development bonds issued by the Tarrant County Cultural and Education Facilities Finance Corp. The "conduit" nature of such bonds means Tarrant County isn't on the hook if projects go under, but investors lose if the nonprofit borrowers can't pay up.Yamil Berard, 817-390-7705Twitter: @yberardHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
