State Revokes License of Granada Hills Care Home : Social services: The owners are accused of dirty conditions and of improperly admitting a man with serious medical problems.

State officials have revoked a Granada Hills couple’s license to run a care home for the elderly, citing dirty conditions, incompetent staffers and the admission of a bedridden man with serious medical problems they were not certified to treat.

The state Department of Social Services also charged that Felix and Lilia Garcia improperly allowed a gate to be placed at the entrance to a woman’s bedroom in their Lilly of the Valley Care Home.

Unlike nursing homes, care homes are licensed to house patients over the age of 60 who are unable to cook and perform other domestic chores for themselves but have no major medical problems.

State officials said the elderly man, identified only as “Client No. 1,” was admitted while suffering from skin ulcers on his hips and buttocks and had a surgically implanted catheter--conditions requiring hospital care.

In addition, he was bedridden, although the care home had fire clearance only for ambulatory residents, authorities said.

“The licensees did not demonstrate the ability and sufficient good judgment to operate this kind of facility,” said Derek Ledda, a Department of Social Services attorney.

“Elderly people are so fragile, so vulnerable--we don’t take chances with these types of clients,” Ledda said. “A small mistake can be very significant for those clients.”

According to state documents, the Garcias denied the allegations, but stipulated that “grounds exist” for their license to be revoked. They have since sold the six-bed care facility, officials said. The revocation became official in October, but authorities made the action public last week.

Kathleen Maylin, a lawyer for the couple, said the elderly man had the ulcers when he was discharged from a local hospital, although she said she didn’t know if they developed at the hospital or before. The man was later admitted to the care home by Lilia Garcia after pleas from the man’s son, a police officer, she said.

“She made a mistake, no question about it,” Maylin said. “But she did it at the family’s request.”

The man, Maylin said, “had nowhere else to go. The idea of turning him away was absolutely foreign to her. . .. She thought she was doing the right thing by helping this family.”

State officials also alleged that a gate was placed across the entrance to a woman’s bedroom to prevent her from wandering and that she was unable to open it.

State laws prevent such gates because of the possibility of fire or another emergency requiring residents to exit quickly.

In addition, state inspectors said kitchen walls, cabinets and a stove were dirty. The oven was “crusted with food,” cereal and potato chips were kept in open bags and rotten fruit was stored in the refrigerator.

Officials said another couple were the only staff members at the home and they “were not competent . . . to meet residents needs.”

There was no evidence the second couple were trained in handling elderly patients, officials said. In addition, they did not know the telephone number of the home and had no way of contacting the Garcias.

Maylin said the gate was placed in the woman’s bedroom to keep “other residents from wandering in.” The gate was never locked and the woman was able to open it, the lawyer said.

She said there were some open food containers in the home, but such conditions are common in care homes and not a threat to residents’ health.

“You could go to any home at any time and find allegations like the Rice Krispies were open,” she said.

Maylin said the staff couple were trainees at the time a state inspector visited the home and had been left in charge only for about an hour after Felix Garcia was called away on a family emergency.

Maylin said the license revocation was too drastic an action and that the state should have placed the Garcias on probation instead.

“All the residents signed a petition to have the home stay open,” she said.