A Shelton nursing home was fined $3,000 after a resident left the building and walked off the property back in January.
The resident, a man who suffers from cognitive disorder and other health issues, suffered severe frostbite on his feet after spending some 10 hours outside, where temperatures ranged from 10 to 14 degrees.
The man was able to leave the facility unnoticed because an alarm system on a set of sliding glass doors had been disconnected for years, according to documents from the facility and investigations unit of the state’s Department of Health.
The facility — Apple Rehab Shelton Lakes, at 5 Lake Road — fixed the problem and created a program where the doors are constantly checked to make sure they are closed and that the alarm is working.
The health department’s citation documentation shed light on what happened in the minutes before fire, EMS, and police from all over the area were called to Lake Road to search for the man — a hunt that lasted straight through dawn.
According to the citation report, an Apple Rehab employee reporting to work saw the man walking down the road, away from the property. She stopped her car and asked him to get inside. The man, scared, took off. That was at 11:10 p.m. Jan. 28.
The employee immediately notified staff, who had no idea the man had left the building. The search for him started at 11:15 p.m.
Click here to read the Valley Indy’s story from that night.
The man was found the next morning after he stopped in for breakfast at the Huntington Street Cafe, about 2.5 miles away.
He had no coat, and his slippers were missing. The man told investigators he left the building because dinner the previous night was horrible and there was nothing in the vending machine.
The case was closed as of March, according to William Gerrish, a spokesman for the state Department of Health.
“(Apple Rehab Shelton Lakes) met our deadline with a corrective action plan,” Gerrish said in an e‑mail. “We conducted a follow-up visit and the facility was noted to be in compliance with the issues we identified. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) imposed a $3,000 civil money penalty. The case is closed.”
