Failure to Address and Resolve Resident Council Grievances
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to act upon and resolve grievances reported by the Resident Council over a period of seven consecutive months. Resident Council meeting minutes consistently documented resident grievances, including issues with banking hours, food portion sizes, lack of snacks, staff behavior (such as not knocking on doors and using phones or earbuds), noise levels at night, and environmental cleanliness. Despite these recurring concerns, there was a lack of documented follow-up or resolution for most grievances from month to month. In some cases, only one grievance from a previous month was addressed, while others were left unresolved, and there was no evidence that the facility communicated efforts to address these concerns to the Resident Council. Interviews with residents, the Activities Director, and the Administrator revealed that grievances raised during Resident Council meetings were not consistently documented on grievance forms or formally communicated to department heads for follow-up. The Activities Director admitted to not filling out grievance forms for concerns brought up in Resident Council and not documenting follow-up actions in the meeting minutes. Residents expressed frustration that their repeated complaints were not being addressed or acknowledged by facility leadership or corporate staff. The Administrator, who was new to the position, was unaware of the lack of documentation and follow-up regarding Resident Council grievances.