An assisted living facility in Western North Carolina has been closed following the arrest of two employees and an investigation by the state's health department.
According to the Yancey County Sherriff's Office, deputies responded to Southern Living for Seniors on Love Fox Road in Burnsville on April 17 after a 911 call from a resident who requested lifting assistance for his roommate. The resident stated he could not locate any employees to help with the roommate who had fallen and been on the floor for 45 minutes.
Upon arriving at the facility, law enforcement say they were initially unable to locate any of the employees. Following a search of the entire facility, two employees, Brittany Michelle Crowder and James David Hudson, were located in a vacant resident’s room, asleep. Authorities say they discovered the employees were in possession of several residents’ narcotic prescription medication.
Crowder, 29, of Burnsville, was arrested and charged with Larceny by Employee, Simple Possession Schedule II Controlled Substance, Simple Possession Schedule IV Controlled Substance, Possession of Stolen Goods, Possession Drug Paraphernalia, Tattooing Regulated, and Failure to Appear on Misdemeanor.
Hudson, 36, of Burnsville, was arrested and charged with Larceny by Employee, Possession of Stolen Goods, Simple Possession Schedule II Controlled Substance, Simple Possession Schedule IV Controlled Substance, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
Law enforcement reported their findings to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) and Yancey County Department of Social Services (DSS). NCDHHS launched an investigation into the management practices of the facility, according to local authorities. That led to the facility being shut down, after officials said it "was noncompliant in many areas." NCDHHS and Yancey County DSS were able to relocate all the residents living at Southern Living for Seniors to other area facilities.
None of the events that have recently unfolded at Southern Living for Seniors in Burnsville surprised Jody Stevens, who says his mother, Carolyn Carpenter, lived there from August 2019 to September 2021.
"We took her out of Southern Living because they were neglecting her health," Stevens told News 13. Carpenter passed away this March, and he said he's glad they got her out of that facility. He said she was able to spend the final months of her life in a better place.
Stevens said he was very active in his mother's care when she was at Southern Living for Seniors and was disappointed by how he says she was treated there. Stevens told News 13 that she was once given improper dosage of her insulin and wasn't fed adequately.
"For example, they would give them a bologna sandwich and like a cup of fruit," he said. "I mean it was just poor, poor food. My mother was always complaining that she didn't have enough to eat."
He said she and other residents there even got head lice, and staff never notified their families.
"It was very upsetting," he said.
Stevens also claims the facility was short-staffed, and the staff they did have were not properly trained.
"It was pitiful, it really was," he said. "I could look around the facility and I could tell just by their hygiene, the way they were, they weren't properly being cared for or given the attention."
He said it hurts his heart thinking of what all the residents in there must have endured behind closed doors.
"It was one of those hole-in-the-wall facilities and it killed us having my mother in there," he said.
News 13 has reached out to the owners, S&S Senior Housing, LLC out of Dallas, Georgia, multiple times for comment. We are waiting to hear back. According to their website, they acquired the facility, which was previously known as Mountain Manor, in April 2018 from the owner, who was retiring. On their website, S&S Senior Housing, LLC states that it had plans to expand the number of beds there and to conduct a "shallow rehab" of the facility "to update the interior and freshen the appearance and appeal of this property." S&S Senior Housing owns several other assisted living facilities in other parts of North Carolina, as well as one in Florida.
NCDHHS told News 13 in an email that the Division of Health Service Regulation conducted a complaint investigation at Southern Living for Seniors in Burnsville and issued a summary suspension of its license on April 21, 2022.
NCDHHS says the the conditions there "present an imminent danger to the health, safety and welfare of the residents and that emergency action is required to protect the residents." Southern Living for Seniors in Burnsville faces rule citations from NCDHHS regarding the following:
- Management of Facilities
- Personal Care and Supervision
- Other Staff Qualifications
- Residents' Rights
- Controlled Substances
- Health Care Personnel Registry
- Examination and Screening for Controlled Substances
Officials say when the report from the complaint investigation is finalized, it will be posted online here.
Hudson's court-appointed attorney told News 13 that Hudson will appear in court on Thursday. Crowder's court-appointed attorney told News 13 that he and Crowder likely will not be in court that day, as the attorney has to be in court elsewhere at the same time.