A Bridgeport company has been fined $3,000 by the state Department of Public Health for multiple violations, including poor supervision of medication and unsanitary conditions, at two substance abuse treatment centers it operates in Waterbury.
On May 6, Connecticut Renaissance Inc. signed consent orders with DPH agreeing to a $1,000 fine in connection with violations at Renaissance East at 31 Wolcott St. and $2,000 in connection with violations at Renaissance West at 466 W. Main St., both in Waterbury.
Connecticut Renaissance also must hire independent licensed practitioners to oversee each of the treatment centers for at least four months to ensure proper patient care and compliance with all state and federal regulations, the consent decree said.
The violations were found by DPH during unannounced inspections at the two centers in January. Renaissance West had the most violations, DPH said in a Feb. 25 letter, including failing to provide proper supervision, failing to provide a safe environment and failing to ensure that infection controls were in place.
Rachael Petitti, Connecticut Renaissance’s CEO, could not be reached for comment.
Inspectors found air conditioners stored in patient rooms and near emergency exits, dirty walls and floors, missing and broken floor tiles and holes in walls, the Feb. 25 letter states.
In one client’s room, a window was found to be broken and covered with cardboard on Jan. 29, with a client dressed in layers of clothing to stay warm, the letter said. Three weeks later, inspectors found that the window was still broken.
The letter said inspectors also found water-damaged ceilings, broken and rusted doors, peeling paint, graffiti on one door and a bed sheet being used as a blind in one room.
On Jan. 29, four clients who lacked food service training were observed serving a meal, DPH found. Other clients were draining spaghetti in colanders and not wearing hairnets, the Feb. 25 letter said.
DPH also found that the medication room was dirty and that temperatures were not monitored in that room’s refrigerator. A second refrigerator containing urine specimens was unlocked and soiled, DPH said.
The facility was also cited for failing to accurately record the administration of medicine and lacking documentation that smoke detectors had been tested in the past two years, DPH’s letter said.
During a Jan. 30 inspection of Renaissance East, inspectors found that the center failed to maintain safe water temperatures of 110 to 120 degrees. Temperatures ranged as high as 184 degrees in one dorm restroom, according to a Feb. 24 letter from DPH.
Inspectors also found broken or missing blinds, damaged walls, missing banister rails, nails sticking out of a wall and torn chair cushions, the letter said.
The center also failed to maintain the medication room in a sanitary manner and failed to ensure that fire drills were conducted monthly and that clients’ treatment plans were signed by clinical supervisors, DPH found.
I was in this facility today (Renaissance West). Everything mentioned above and more are still present. I suggest we stop giving small fines and just shut this place down as it is a hazard to the clients health.
There is more than an inch of dust on the walls. A obvious leak and hole in the ceiling in the dining area. Old food all over the floor and all over the microwave station. The coffee maker clearly has never been cleaned. The medicine room is dirtier than the restroom. They do not check to make sure pills are swallowed before leaving. There is peeling paint on the walls, the floors are filthy. They refuse to check light bulbs that are blinking consistently and is an electrical hazard. There is black and pink mold all over the shower curtains. The staff does not pat down the new clients, probably because they are only staffing females it seems like. The clients run the groups and also serve the food, no one ever has a hair net on.
The dropped bread on the floor yesterday before lunch and picked it up and put it on the table for the clients to eat.
The staff is non consistent with the rules.
The front door is covered in rust and filth.
The office where I checked in was full of people and the floor and the desk was covered in half eaten food and spilled drinks.
The laundry room is the new barber shop where the staff allows the clients to cut hair and leave the mess on the floor.
Shower curtains are draped over the hand railings and can cause someone to slip. Which brings me to the next point of them washing the stairs with straight fabulouso and making them like an ice rink where multiple clients slip and fall daily.
NOTHING about this place is sanitary and should be shut down immediately.
I am going through the same things here at ct renaissance west ..They make jokes towards me beening on methadone. They make threats of retaliation if some ask or makes a report towards the program.Is there any one who can help or guide me to complain.
The same issue that lead them to be cited still continues here at ct renaissance west..The clients still serving the food. They have no training in serve safe practice…The food tends to be cool…They pre serve the food…holding it to be serve at room temper which I believe is in the danger range zone
For bacteria growth.The ice machine inside has a blackish grease film in ….I don’t understand how they continue to operate at this