Concerns raised about conditions inside Beaver County nursing home: "Heartbreaking"
A woman searching for rehabilitation care says she walked away heartbroken after touring Rochester Manor and Villa, and a former maintenance director says he repeatedly warned management about problems inside the building.
Erin Gagrich said the search for a rehabilitation facility led her to Rochester Manor and Villa, and what she witnessed prompted her to contact KDKA-TV.
"The physical therapy area was just fine," Gagrich said. "Everything was normal. He takes me to the second floor, it's very muggy. Myself, I'm a very cold person, I love heat, and this was awful. I could feel the stickiness on my hands as soon as I walked onto the floor."
Gagrich says the heat wasn't the only thing that concerned her. She says she also saw residents sitting uncovered and an elderly man exposed and struggling in bed.
"But this, this is heartbreaking," Gagrich said. "It's that man. It is that man. I cannot stop thinking about him. It's heartbreaking."
Former maintenance director Brandon Hudson says Gagrich's concerns weren't a one-off. He says many of the same problems existed while he worked there.
Hudson shared text messages with KDKA-TV that appear to show repeated attempts to repair the building's air conditioning. Other messages discuss residents needing to be cooled down, and an employee becoming sick from the heat.
"I had a company on standby willing to come out there that night with a unit, hook it up, and get that entire building AC, not just hallways, not just the offices, it would have been the entire building, every resident would have had air conditioner, and I was told no," Hudson said.
KDKA-TV also obtained photographs that appear to document some of the conditions Hudson described, including an elevator marked out of service, a dead rat inside the facility, trash bags piled in a hallway, what appears to be a mold-covered shower, and what a source identifies as a bedbug sealed inside a plastic bag.
"Yes, I was there when the elevator was down," Hudson said. "It was down when I started, and it's still down from what I'm hearing. And rats, yes. I firsthand witnessed a rat up on the third floor."
Hudson says despite everything, his concern remains with the residents who call the facility home.
"They should have a clean environment," Hudson said. "They should have adequate people to take care of them. They shouldn't have to worry about 'well, am I going to get changed or am I going to be able to go to the bathroom?' They shouldn't have to worry about that."
KDKA-TV took those allegations directly to Rochester Manor and Villa. The administrator declined KDKA-TV's questions and instead asked police, who were already on the property for something unrelated, to have us leave the property.
KDKA-TV tried reaching out to the owner of the nursing home, Pollac Holdings LLC, but the contact number is out of service.
