State Closes Down Orange Care Home : Elderly: Officials order a shutdown after a 93-year-old woman goes to a hospital with bedsores, malnutrition and pneumonia.

State authorities on Wednesday closed a residential care home after learning that one of its clients was admitted to a hospital suffering from bedsores, malnutrition, pneumonia and dehydration, officials said.

The license of the Orange Residential Care Home, 317 N. Lincoln Ave., was revoked after an investigation determined that conditions posed a danger to the home’s six elderly residents, authorities said.

“They have had a history of problems, but we had been hoping they would come up to compliance,” said Kathleen Norris, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services. “This was the last straw. We looked into the matter thoroughly, and it was just too dangerous a situation for the clients.”

The closure of the Orange home is the lastest in a spate of state investigations aimed at residential care facilities and board-and-care homes in the county.

Officials alleged that Janet Springstead, the operator of the home, has repeatedly failed to seek appropriate medical care for clients, hired staff members who do not speak sufficient English and failed to train them to handle emergencies.

Springstead could not be reached for comment.

Norris said the facility, opened in 1984, had been the target of complaints but had not been investigated for possible violations and had no record of disciplinary actions. She also noted that the home is not required to have a nurse on staff.

Authorities decided to act, Norris said, after receiving a complaint from medical personnel that an elderly patient had been admitted to a hospital in June suffering from bedsores, pneumonia, malnutrition and dehydration.

Norris had no information on why it had taken so long for the complaint to come to light.

Authorities said a nursing consultant and representatives of the Orange County Long Term Care Ombudsman and Adult Protective Services were on hand to help clients in relocating.

“Everything possible is being done to minimize trauma to the clients during their move,” said Fred Miller, head of the department’s licensing program.

Springstead is out of town, according to her daughter, Michelle, who was contacted at the family’s nearby Orange home.

Michelle Springstead called the allegations “ridiculous.”

“It was like a family unit, and everyone was cared for and given love,” she said.

And at least one relative of a resident agreed. Jan Smocksaid her 93-year-old grandmother was admitted to the hospital and is the subject of the state’s allegations.

She said authorities never contacted her during their investigation, and she expressed shock at the state’s action.

“She got the best care there,” Smock said. “I saw her once a week and never told them I was coming. I never saw any neglect.”

Smock said her grandmother spent nearly a year at the Orange home, moving there from a Tustin retirement facility.

She said Janet Springstead told her in May that Smock’s grandmother had begun to develop bedsores and that she should be moved to a convalescent home where more care could be provided. However, before the move took place, her grandmother entered the hospital for an unrelated condition.

“No one talked to me about the bedsores until after about a week, when they said they thought the sores had not been properly cared for,” Smock said. “But they had only developed recently, and she was not dehydrated or malnourished while she was at the Orange home.”

After the hospital stay, Smock said, her grandmother was moved in late June to a convalescent home in Garden Grove.

Earlier this month, retirement homes in Laguna Beach and Santa Ana were closed without warning, displacing 31 residents. Officials have also revoked the licenses of board-and-care homes for the developmentally disabled in Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Anaheim.

California has about 4,100 licensed residential care facilities that provide homes for 96,000 elderly people.

Officials said Springstead will have 15 days to respond to the state’s action. The home will remain closed pending the outcome of an administrative hearing.