Massachusetts assisted living facility has no heat after resident's death, records show maintenance problems
The Hopkinton, Massachusetts, health director and employees inside Golden Pond Assisted Living Facility tell WBZ-TV that on Monday, Oct. 12, the facility had no heat.
This comes a week after WBZ-TV first reported a resident death inside the facility on Sept. 30, in which police discovered the resident's room was nearly 100 degrees.
Resident's death under investigation
The Middlesex County District Attorney's office, as well as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, are examining whether the oppressive heat played any role in the resident's death. The DA's office is meeting with police and the health director this week as part of that investigation.
Days after the report aired, Golden Pond's leadership sent WBZ-TV a statement that reads in part, "our HVAC system is professionally maintained by a licensed contractor on both a seasonal and as-needed basis and was working properly at the time of this incident."
Records from the town's health director, and reports from employees inside the building, paint a very different story.
According to a letter sent from Hopkinton Health Director Shaun McAuliffe to the state's Executive Office of Aging & Independence, "the HVAC system was not acknowledging that the thermostats were off and not calling for heat."
McAuliffe noted that he and other health department officials measured temperatures inside the facility on Oct. 1 – one day after the resident's death – with thermometers, which noted temperatures in the 80s and 90s with return temperatures over 100 degrees in some spaces. These high temperatures existed despite the fact that the heat had been turned off, he wrote in his letter.
McAuliffe expressed concern that an HVAC company could not fix the problem and turned the heat off instead – a direct contradiction to Golden Pond's claim that the HVAC system was working properly when the resident died.
"Based on the evidence, the system was not working," explained Paul Lanzikos, a senior care advocate from the Massachusetts Dignity Alliance who reviewed records in this case for WBZ-TV.
According to the letter, an acting director on site had no plan in the event residents needed to be evacuated and suggested the facility would just send them to hotels.
Current and past issues at Hopkinton facility
WBZ-TV obtained more than 100 pages of records documenting current and past issues at Golden Pond.
The facility went through multiple hot water outages in 2024, which caught the attention of town officials because of its impact on kitchen sanitation. Its certification was later suspended by the state in early 2025 due to a number of violations of state regulations. It was recertified in May 2025.
Previous incident reports describe claimed cockroach issues, rodent problems, and trash issues outside. "I say, get your act together. You know, literally clean it up. And be responsive, and be accountable," Lanzikos said after reviewing the reports.
The state's Executive Office of Aging & Independence (AGE) tells WBZ-TV that when its representatives responded to Golden Pond following the resident's death on Sept. 30, it discovered that the facility was "implementing cooling measures" by bringing in air conditioners and fans and opening windows, "but also identified several violations of state regulations. AGE is requiring corrective action and will continue monitoring the facility to protect residents," according to a statement from a spokesperson from the state agency.
The violations include no communication log of the heating issues, no automated AED installed, and the facility failed to complete its most recently required fire drills.
The state has strengthened its regulations for nursing homes and assisted living facilities following the deadly fire at the Gabriel House in 2025 that killed 10 people in Fall River.
