DPH Fines Stamford Convalescent Home, Requires Hiring A Consultant

A Stamford convalescent home has been fined $2,000 by the state Department of Public Health for numerous violations, including a failure to protect residents and staff members from a knife-wielding resident. Long Ridge of Stamford signed a consent order with DPH on May 20 agreeing to the fine and to hiring a consultant to monitor nearly all aspects of its operation, including nursing care, customer service, dietary services, staff interaction and nursing supervision. In a letter last July to the care and convalescent home, DPH officials outlined 17 pages of violations of state regulations ranging from a failure to respond to residents’ complaints to a failure to provide psychiatric care for the aggressive patient who threatened employees and another resident at knifepoint on March 15, 2013. Long Ridge’s administrator could not be reached for comment. In the case of the aggressive resident, DPH found that the home failed to provide one-on-one supervision of the person and failed to obtain an emergency certificate to have the resident transferred to a psychiatric facility.