Fight Vowed as Home for Disabled Closed : Licensing: A state official calls conditions at facility for developmentally handicapped ‘the worst,’ but an appeal is promised.

SANTA ANA —  A state official Wednesday called conditions at a board-and-care home closed by the state “some of the worst I have ever seen” and said continued operation of the facility would have endangered the lives of clients.

However, operators of the home called charges against the facility a “series of falsehoods” and said they will appeal the closing.

State authorities Tuesday revoked the license of Jackson Place, a 104-bed adult residential facility opened eight years ago. About 94 residents have been moved to other care facilities inside and outside of the county.

The home, one of the largest board-and-care facilities in the county, cares for developmentally disabled residents, such as those with autism, cerebral palsy and mental retardation.

According to state records, the home’s license had not been previously revoked. The home had been cited many times, but most violations concerned physical conditions of the facility, not patient care. The state renewed the home’s license in March.

But in a 22-page summary of charges, the state accused the home this week of failing to provide adequate medical care for clients, violating the personal rights of clients and accepting clients in need of skilled nursing care that the facility was not licensed to provide.

During one inspection, several clients were found to have bedsores, diaper rashes and in one case second-degree burns caused when a wheelchair-bound client was left in the sun. The accusation also cited an incident in which a deaf and blind resident was attacked by another client.

The charges were presented at a press conference held in the Santa Ana offices of the Department of Social Service’s community care licensing division.

“We found cracked walls, filthy floors, feces on the floor, vomit in a sink that appeared not to have been cleaned in weeks,” licensing supervisor Barbara Gossett said. “These are about the worst conditions I have seen at this kind of facility.”

Gossett said the state took immediate action after a June 26 inspection found that the facility did not have a proper fire permit.

But administrators and parents of some of the facility’s clients said the state’s action was uncalled for.

Clay Reavis Jr., president of Fairway Complex, which owns Jackson Place, said the home was told June 26 that it needed a special fire permit for some clients, such as those in wheelchairs, but had not had time to arrange for the permit.

Reavis said the home had also been warned June 26 about dirty windowsills, dust on floors and other minor issues, but had not been told that patient care was a concern.

He said the state had given administrators no warning of possible closure.

Susan Hart, administrator at Jackson Place, also disputed the state’s charges.

“We have program plans for every patient that says they are appropriate for a board-and-care facility,” Hart said. “In all of the instances they cite, the clients were being treated by a doctor.”

The president of a Jackson Place parents group said she and most other parents had also been unaware of the problems.

“We have addressed problems there before, but nothing this serious,” said Connie Cariello, whose mentally retarded sister, Mary Lou, has lived at Jackson Place since its 1983 opening. “I saw nothing that would prompted me to move my sister out, or I would have.”

Cariello said she and others had no warning about the closing and called the sudden evacuation of patients late Tuesday “inhumane.”

“Can you imagine having a stranger suddenly come in and take you by the hand and tell you that you’re coming to live with them?” Cariello asked.

Questions about the state’s action were also raised by Don Graham, head of the regional Developmental Disabilities Center, a private, nonprofit agency that places clients in homes and monitors their care.

Graham said his agency was given little notice about the state’s intentions and did not have time to warn parents.

Jackson Place officials and parents described the scene Tuesday as a “three-ring circus” in which confused, often-sobbing residents were uprooted.

Graham said the center would review its procedures and those of the state to see whether “we can prevent this kind of thing from occurring in the future.”