State Shuts Down 2 Retirement Homes : Elderly: Sudden order follows complaints, inspectors say. But some residents praise Laguna facility. The other home was vacant.

LAGUNA BEACH —  Saying that elderly residents were in danger, state officials Wednesday shut down two retirement homes in Laguna Beach and Santa Ana without warning and removed 31 residents.

The state Department of Social Services took the action after temporarily suspending the operating licenses of a Huntington Beach family that operates Laguna Manor in Laguna Beach and the Flower Care Center in Santa Ana.

Social services investigators, accompanied by Laguna Beach police, showed up at the Laguna Beach retirement home as 2130 S. Coast Highway at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to serve co-owner Lydia Liboon with the suspension order. The Santa Ana home was voluntarily vacated about two weeks ago.

A complaint filed by the licensing division of the state Department of Social Services in Sacramento alleged that residents of the facilities were left unattended for hours at a time, wearing soaked and soiled diapers and clothing.

Some residents had bedsores that went unattended, state documents alleged. One male resident had to be hospitalized in June after suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and a hip fracture during his stay at the Laguna Beach home, according to the state investigators.

But the husband and wife who own the homes denied the state’s allegations, saying that they had been unfairly targeted by state investigators.

“They’re lies, all lies,” said Lydia Liboon, 49, about the state’s allegations as she brushed away tears flowing down her cheek.

Her husband, Nick Liboon, 58, said he was shocked by the state’s action because the residents and their relatives had constantly expressed satisfaction with the two retirement homes.

“Just ask anyone staying here whether they were in danger or if they were being ill-treated,” said Nick Liboon, who works as a tool designer at a Shell Oil refinery in Carson. “This is home for them, the happiest place. We’re family.”

Retirement homes, also called board and care homes, offer shelter, meals and assistance to the elderly. They offer a lower level of care than nursing homes do.

Wednesday’s action caught residents of the Laguna retirement home by surprise. Several broke down in tears after awakening to the news that they had eight hours to find a new home.

Relatives and friends of the residents scampered throughout the day to make arrangements for alternative accommodations.

Ed Bowbanks, an amputee who moved into the facility two months ago, sobbed as he sat in his wheelchair in the yard of the retirement home overlooking the Pacific. “Closing this place is a crime,” said Bowbanks, 80. “I’ve made so many friends here.”

But state officials said they sought the suspension because of what they described as substandard conditions and inadequate supervision at the two retirement homes.

Nick and Lydia Liboon were licensed to operate Laguna Manor, a 48-bed residential care facility for the elderly in Laguna Beach, and a similar six-bed home at 2122 Flower St. in Santa Ana.

The Santa Ana facility had no clients in care when the suspension order was served Wednesday. They were moved recently to a Garden Grove facility, not run by the Liboons, at the suggestion of an inspector, Lydia Liboon said. But state officials sought the Santa Ana facility’s closure anyway to prevent the Liboons from transferring residents there.

In addition to alleging neglect, state documents also contend that the retirement homes provided inadequate basic supervision for residents. In June, only two care providers were present at the Laguna Beach facility to care for 39 residents. In one instance last April, Laguna Beach police had to respond to a call from a resident of the facility for help, the documents state.

“The resident had repeatedly called for facility staff to assist her and . . . was compelled to phone off site for help,” the complaint stated. “The responding (police) officer found a care provider asleep in a resident’s room.”

All the residents and relatives interviewed Wednesday insisted that they were not abused and that they were in fact pleased with the level of care at the home.

“My only complaint was the food was bland,” Bowbanks said, sobbing. “But I could live with that. What is going to happen to all my friends now?”

Betty Lockwood, a terminal lung cancer patient who took up residence at Laguna Manor a month ago, said she was stunned by the state’s allegations. “It’s all a mystery to me why they chose this place to close down,” said Lockwood, 72. “I’ve been in other (retirement homes) and this is paradise compared to some of the others.”

Kathleen Norris, deputy director of public affairs for the Department of Social Services, said the state acted out of concern for the residents’ welfare.

“We had evidence that the residents were being neglected so we decided to act,” Norris said.

Norris said Wednesday’s closures were the first time this year that the state had closed retirement homes in Orange County. Within the past two months, however, state officials shut down three board and care homes in Orange County for the developmentally disabled. They were Jackson Place in Santa Ana, Pearlmark Home Annex in Anaheim and Pearlmark Home No. 1 in Garden Grove.

California has 4,100 licensed residential care facilities for 96,000 frail or disabled elders. About one-half of 1 percent of licenses are revoked each year.

“It’s an extreme action, but we have to do this,” Norris said.

Relatives, however, hurled angry remarks at state officials who supervised the removal of the residents.

C.J. Duster, 55, a mortgage financier of Dana Point, said he was “absolutely flabbergasted” when state officials called him early Wednesday asking “if I want them to take my mother (to another home) or if I’m coming to get her.”

Duster and other angry relatives told state officials that they had no complaints about the Liboons’ operation.

“We’re not talking about a kennel being closed. This is not my dog, she is my mother,” Duster told senior special investigator Samuel Abrego.

Norris said that the state was not obligated to notify relatives of the suspension. She said residents who were not removed by their relatives would be placed in nearby residential facilities.

At Laguna Manor, relatives lined up to use the telephone to call other retirement homes, inquiring about rates and availability of rooms. Throughout the day, relatives and staff of the retirement home carted away the furniture, clothes and toys of the elderly residents.

Norris said the two retirement homes will remain closed pending the outcome of the license revocation action. The Liboons must respond to the state’s action within 15 days, but they said Wednesday that are not going to fight the state action.

Nick Liboon said he would have to lay off the homes’ 15 employees and sell or lease the two properties, which the family purchased within the last two years.

“As far as I am concerned, we’re through with this kind of work,’ said Nick Liboon. “It’s tough fighting the law. We’ve had enough. How can you win?”