91 Disabled Residents May Be Put Out of Anaheim Care Facility

Ninety-one residents of a care facility for the developmentally disabled may be forced out of their longtime home within weeks if a new owner cannot be found soon, state officials said.

The developments at Casa Grande, an intermediate-care facility for adults with severe handicaps, has sent alarms throughout the developmental disability community because it is the second-largest home of its type in the county and one of only a score of such homes in the state.

There is fear that many of Casa Grande’s clients would be sent out of the area or to state mental hospitals should it close.

Officials with the state Department of Developmental Services and Health Services Department were meeting Thursday to try to find a way of preventing the closure.

Health Services investigators in December ordered the owners of Casa Grande to sell the facility after inspections turned up several alleged violations of state health and safety codes.

But as the deadline for the transfer of ownership approaches early next week, no one has been approved to take control.

What is more, the owner of the property on which Casa Grande sits says she has not been paid rent since January and plans to be in court at month’s end seeking to evict the tenants and, if necessary, the disabled clients as well.

The turn of events has confused and angered relatives of the patients who believed that the home--where many of the residents have lived for more than 15 years--was secure.

The parents, who staged a rally in January to support continued operation of Casa Grande, say that neither state nor local authorities have offered any answers.

“There have been rumors, but we have not heard from anyone about this,” said David Kirsch, president of the Casa Grande parent’s association. “Obviously we would be very much concerned until this situation is resolved. We want to see Casa Grande continue.”

Casa Grande is a long-term care facility for adult patients suffering from mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy and other developmental disabilities.

Property owner Barbara Weiner said in an interview Wednesday that she would also prefer that Casa Grande remain open but will have little choice but to take possession of the building if a new operator is not found.

“I don’t want to have to evict these people but what can I do? I can’t go in and run the place myself,” Weiner said.

Jacqueline Lincer, manager of the Health Services Department’s Santa Ana licensing division, said a nonprofit group brought in by current owners, Bryant and Marie Salvidar, have submitted an application to buy the facility.

But the group has not submitted a license fee nor has it been able to show that it is fiscally solvent.

Weiner contends that successful operation of Casa Grande is not feasible unless its capacity is reduced.

She wants to convert the facility to a maximum of 59 beds. Under current Medi-Cal regulations, a facility with fewer beds is eligible to receive a higher rate of compensation. Downsizing would also reduce overhead and staffing costs. However, Weiner believes the state should pick up the costs of the conversion.

“I think it is the state’s responsibility,” Weiner said. “And in the long run it would save them thousands of dollars to keep this place open rather than sending clients to other facilities or a state hospital.”

State officials say, however, that Medi-Cal regulations do not permit paying the higher patient rate before the facility is downsized. But officials are hoping that some other solutions might be found.

“It’s gotten to be a very complex issue,” said John Moise, chief of the residential division of the state Department of Developmental Services. “There are a number of things transpiring right now and we’re hoping to find some answers.”

State authorities had threatened to cut Medi-Cal funding and close the home after inspections found several non-life-threatening deficiencies, including lax record-keeping, failure to observe clients’ rights and failure to provide appropriate daytime activities.

The home was given six months to improve conditions, with the proviso that it not accept new clients during that period and that new owners be found.

Dwight Tate, associate director of the regional Developmental Disabilities Center in Orange, which would be responsible for finding new homes for clients, said his agency has received no notice that closure of the home is impending.

However, Tate said there are contingency plans to cover such an event.

Tate also said several Casa Grande clients have been relocated in recent weeks but said the moves were not connected to recent problems.

The plight of Casa Grande’s clients, many of them elderly and severely handicapped, has roused anger among caretakers and others in the developmental disabilities community who contend that state and local authorities have been lax in monitoring conditions and should have headed off the problems.

Still, most parents say finding new homes for their loved ones would be a severe hardship.

“It’s a very deep concern of ours,” said Kirsch, whose 43-year-old son, Allen, is mentally retarded and suffers from cerebral palsy.

“We would immediately be confronted with having to bring someone in to take care of our son at home.”

Kirsch said a move might prove traumatic not only for the adult clients but for their aging relatives. And some of the clients are alone, having been abandoned or having lost all of their kin through death, Kirsch added.

There is also a fear that because of the dearth of well-run care facilities, many clients might end up in state mental hospitals.

“That is why Casa Grande means an awful lot to all of us,” Kirsch said.