Gracewood School subject of state investigation

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Posted 6:01AM on Saturday, July 20, 2002

GRACEWOOD - State officials are investigating Gracewood State School and Hospital after reports that a resident was beaten with a pipe and that another resident jumped out of a window. The state Office of Regulatory Services sent letters this week to the school for the developmentally disabled, citing poor care, The Augusta Chronicle reported Saturday. Unless conditions improve by July 31, the state could move to cut off the facility's Medicaid funding. Gracewood had originally been threatened with a July 13 loss of Medicaid and Medicare funding. But the school provided a plan of correction that satisfied federal officials. This time, the facility is being criticized for having too small a staff to supervise patients and too few meaningful programs for the residents. Officials also are concerned about problems in a living area that ``appeared to be widespread physical and psychological abuse rather than an isolated incident of abuse.'' On March 26, a staff worker preparing to give a 32-year-old resident her bath noticed red welts on the woman's buttocks and thighs. The facility's client advocate later found a 19-inch aluminum pipe that matched the marks on the woman's body. Similar pipes, all taken from privacy screens, were found scattered in different places around the living area. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate, and a supervisor later resigned after refusing to take a polygraph test. In another incident, a patient who had leaped out of a window in December and had a history of running off and causing mayhem, was left unsupervised after dinner June 25. The patient, who was supposed to be under direct supervision at all times, either jumped or fell out of a window and ended up in the hospital with a ``cervical spinal cord injury,'' according to the report. Debra Elovich, assistant commissioner for policy and government services at the Georgia Department of Human Resources, said Gracewood officials are working on eliminating problems. ``They do have every confidence they'll be able to make the corrections and provide (the plan) within that time frame,'' Ms. Elovich said.