ST. LOUIS — A new Missouri inspection report highlights the chaos that ensued after St. Louis' largest nursing home closed without warning last month, forcing the evacuation of more than 170 residents, many in the middle of the night.
Northview Village closed suddenly on Dec. 15 as the company that owned it struggled to meet payroll. The 320-bed skilled nursing facility housed many residents on Medicaid who couldn’t get into other long-term care facilities, including people with mental health and behavioral problems, advocates for the residents have said.
The report from the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services, released Wednesday, cited the financial trouble that prompted the closure. That afternoon, the nursing home administrator told an inspector that one of the owners “refused to pay staff, and said he did not have the money," the report said.
A nurse told investigators that “when employees found out they would not be paid, staff came in for work and turned around and left.”
According to SEIU Healthcare Missouri State Director Lenny Jones, he said some employees did stay to help residents. One employee told 5 On Your Side they stayed until the last resident left the building the next morning.
Former Northview Village employee Tosha Thomas recalls the crisis.
"It was chaotic, it was horrible. It was a mess, people were going here and there and residents were crying, staff was crying. It was heartbreaking," Thomas shared.
The report said after 3:45, the CFO told the administrator to transfer as many residents as possible to two other facilities operated by the same owners.
At 4:50 P.M., the administrator said their emergency preparedness plan had been enacted.
Meanwhile, phone lines went down, making it difficult for the 174 residents to communicate with relatives. With no security present, people began stealing from inside the nursing home. An elevator was stuck for 30 minutes with nine people inside, including a resident in a wheelchair. Tearful residents didn't know if they were staying or going.
Through the early hours of Dec. 16, residents were shuttled to about a dozen other care facilities. Many patients left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, creating confusion and spurring outrage among residents and their families. Some were relocated without their medical records or medication lists.
The report stated that according to Northview's discharge paperwork, 47 of 174 residents were unaccounted for.
At least two residents walked out amid the chaos. One a 61-year-old man who has schizophrenia, was missing for three weeks before he was found in early January. A second resident was found the day after the closure at a gas station seven miles away, the report said.
“The facility failed to take measures to ensure security of the residents and staff during the evacuation, and failed to secure resident belongings from theft,” the report stated. “The failures jeopardized the health and safety for all residents and staff.”
The nursing home was operated by suburban St. Louis-based Healthcare Accounting Services. A woman answering the phone on Thursday said the company declined to comment.
"Northview is a part of Healthcare Accounting Services and under the umbrella of ownership of Mr. Mark Suissa, this particular facility is also owned by other partners," according to an internal memo obtained by 5 On Your Side.
Jones told 5 On Your Side, "Talking to people in the state and outside the state, nobody has seen anything like this."
Jones feels strongly about what went wrong, putting blame on the out-of-state owners and the administration.
"This was a result of incompetence from the owners who made a decision to not make payroll," he said.
Marjorie Moore, executive director of VOYCE, a St. Louis agency that serves as an ombudsman for long-term care residents and their families, voiced concerns about leadership.
"Families weren’t notified, these residents were pulled out with whatever they were wearing, some without coats in December," she said.
Moore said the residents eventually moved to 27 nursing homes in the area.
"Very few of these residents consented on where they were going so folks moved really fast, which added to the chaos afterwards as well," Moore said. "As someone who does payroll, I know if I have a cash flow problem and that’s something you communicate early so they know what to expect. The ownership group should’ve talked to the state as soon they knew this would happen."
Moore hopes the ownership group will be held accountable.
She said these owners are required to give the state and federal government a 60-day notice if they're shutting down.
"We’ve never seen anybody try to clear out a facility in less than 24 hours though," Moore added.
She worries about the trauma residents faced.
"There is a concept called 'transfer trauma' if a resident is moved from a familiar facility, that increases that they may die sooner," she said. "Also, we're worried about the physical trauma residents went through."
As for Thomas, she's one of hundreds of employees still searching for a job and some relief.
"I'm hoping for the best but it's been a struggle," Thomas admitted.
The report didn't address the possibility of penalties for the nursing home's operator. Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a St. Louis Democrat, called for a federal investigation of the owners as well as a probe of Missouri's system of overseeing nursing homes.
Meanwhile, approximately 100 employees have filed a class action lawsuit.
It's been filed in federal court because it accuses the owners of violating the WARN Act, which requires a 60-day notice before laying people off.