PINEHURST, Idaho — A former employee of a North Idaho senior care home that was found out of compliance with state regulations is speaking out and detailing what she described as problems at the facility.
Pacifica Senior Living in Pinehurst is currently barred from accepting new residents and is under temporary management after investigators working for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare determined that the senior care facility failed to protect some residents from abuse and also failed to provide adequate staffing. Pacifica is currently operating under a provisional license due to the violations.
"The whole time, I saw problems," Janine Croston, a former employee at the Pacifica facility in Pinehurst, told KREM.
Croston said that she worked as a house manager at the senior home, which also provides assisted living and memory care, from Nov. 2017 until May 2018. After temporarily taking a job elsewhere, Croston said she returned to Pacifica again in Nov. 2018 and worked there until April 2019.
Most of her work involved filing paperwork and making sure records for senior residents were up to date. Additionally, Croston explained she would place orders with physicians' offices for medications.
Croston described "sloppy" attention to detail from some Pacifica employees at the time and a sense of ignorance.
"Not caring. Not having that concern," she said of the attitudes of some of her colleagues. "It's heartbreaking, really."
Croston said Pacifica would often not have a registered nurse on site as often as the facility should have.
According to IDHW records, investigators wrote that Pacifica's "licensed nurse was not available to review and implement all new medication orders." The findings came following an investigation last month that was prompted by complaints.
Additionally, Croston claimed that management at Pacifica directed staff to give unprescribed medication to residents while she worked there.
"It made me angry," she said of the practice. "Giving a medication that makes [a resident] tired that isn't prescribed to them. Because somebody doesn't want to take care of a behavior instead of redirecting them, [staff] would drug them up."
Despite Croston leaving Pacifica over half a year before investigators arrived to follow up on complaints, some of Croston's complaints appear to be verified by IDHW investigators.
"The facility failed to provide appropriate supervision to 100% of the Residents [sic] residing in the facility when the facility allowed unlicensed staff to make medical decisions," reads a section of the state's report.
Falling under a section of findings described as "core issues," investigators also wrote that the rights of a Pacifica resident were violated when staff put medication into the resident's coffee without the resident's knowledge.
"The administrator...directed staff to administer or interchange medications which had the potential to jeopardize the health and safety of 100% of the residents residing at the facility," wrote investigators. "Also, the administrator and the Resident Care Director directed staff during emergencies without consulting the facility nurse or contact 911."
"It makes me sad. Because those residents, that's their home. You're supposed to be taking care of them," said Croston. "And when you read those reports, it's disgusting."
Croston said she feared retaliation from coworkers if she were to have pushed back or raised questions on the practices while working at Pacifica. She eventually filed a report regarding the violations with the state and subsequently spoke with state investigators last month, Croston explained.
When contacted on Wednesday, a Pacifica Pinehurst employee said she wasn't able to comment regarding this story. The employee did, however, say that the senior care home was conducting their own "internal investigation."
"We're doing well," the employee said, alluding to changes at the facility.
The employee added that circumstances have currently pained the facility as "guilty until proven innocent."
While Croston's name was not brought up during the conversation between the Pacifica employee and a KREM reporter, the staff member stated that former employees could be possibly "disgruntled."
"My hopes are that with all of this being brought up, and the state investigating, I hope it changes for [Pacifica]," Croston said. "Until they wash all the bad out, it's not going to be able to be fixed. Because it will continue."