Residents of Magnolia Gardens in Marion were told Tuesday morning they would have to move out because electricity to the facility will be shut off.
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control officials along with representatives of the lieutenant governor's office -- which runs that state's office on aging -- were on scene Tuesday helping with the closing of the facility.
The site, Magnolia Gardens Assisted Living Facility on North Main Street in Marion, came under scrutiny after several former employees and one vendor came forward, saying they had not received payment for services they provided at the facility.
The home's license was also suspended earlier this year following a DHEC inspection, and DHEC officials said late Tuesday, that the facility's license had been suspended once again.
"The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has suspended the license of the Magnolia Gardens Assisted Living Home in Marion County, effective today (Tuesday). As a result, the facility cannot admit new residents, or readmit former residents without DHEC approval," said DHEC Spokesman, Adam Myrick.
"DHEC will continue to work together with other state agencies to ensure that our state’s most vulnerable citizens and their families receive the care they deserve and need," DHEC Director Catherine Templeton said in an email statement. "We will protect the health and safety of these residents, and monitor this facility to ensure it can provide a level of service that respects clients’ needs and state law," Templeton's statement continued.
Though the facility's owners would not comment on the closure, some family members said they were only notified of problems Tuesday morning and were told they would need to come get their relatives from the site.
"They called this morning at about 9 o'clock to say that they were in the process of...that the lights were going to be cut off, so we had to find somewhere for her to go," said Marion resident James Nelson, who had to pick up his sister, and all of her belongings, from Magnolia Gardens Tuesday morning.
"They said they had places for the males but they didn't exactly have places for the females," he continued.
While DHEC officials would not say whether the impending disconnection of electricity had any impact on their decision to suspend the facility's license, some of those with family members at the facility, said employees cited that fact as the reason for the facility's closure.
Representatives from several different state agencies worked to place residents who had nowhere to go, but for many of the residents' family members, such as Nelson, the tough task of caring for and providing housing for their relatives, has now fallen squarely in their laps.
"I mean it was at the last minute...that's what was so...crazy, but we've been hearing a lot of rumors, but we got a letter about two weeks ago saying everything was okay," Nelson said.
"We're just going to let her (Nelson's sister) stay with us until they find somewhere. It was just so convenient with her here close to us, now she might be in Florence or Darlington or somewhere," he said.
The facility's previous license suspension came on the heels of DHEC visits in which numerous violations were cited.
Among those, were notes concerning dirty rooms and restrooms, cobwebs, spiders and flies being found in some patients' rooms, broken furniture in many of the patients' rooms, window screens missing from rooms and some holes in floors, foul odors and paint chipping throughout the facility.
In addition, the inspectors found moldy ceiling tiles on the first floor and rusty shower heads throughout the building.
DHEC inspectors listed a series of actions that should be taken and made subsequent visits to the facility every month following.
During some of those visits, they noticed other problems at the facility after receiving a complaint to the DHEC's licensing division.
The inspectors noted that the facility did not have a functioning kitchen, that breakfast and lunch meals were served with plastic cutlery, that employees were observed wiping down counters in the kitchen area without sanitizing them and noted that during a check of every patients' prescribed medications, some of those medications were not on site.
In addition, DHEC inspectors found that the facility had no administrator for a lengthy period of time and that many employees could not furnish any proof of required training when asked.
Following the February visit, DHEC suspended Magnolia Gardens' license because of non-compliance, but later reinstated the license after the agency said the facility was in compliance enough to treat current patients and accept new ones.
In addition to the problems with DHEC, the facility also faced some pretty major financial hurdles, with a potential impending foreclosure and the owner owing $91,456.60 in back taxes to Marion County.
Myrick said though, that those issues were not relevant to DHEC's decision of whether or not to suspend or revoke a facility's license. "Our decision to suspend or revoke a license has to be based on a statutory provision, rule or regulation.
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