Gracewood State School and Hospital wins reprieve

GRACEWOOD - Gracewood State School and Hospital will retain Medicaid and Medicare funding after submitting a plan to better protect patients and train staff to handle aggressive behavior. <br> <br> The facility for the mentally disabled was threatened with losing the funding this Saturday after surveyors from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services responded to allegations that patients were not protected from injury. Another survey indicated that the danger had been eliminated. <br> <br> After they arrived June 17, the surveyors were told by Bruce Callander, the chief executive of Gracewood, that a disruptive patient had been injured four days earlier when he tried to run from the staff member assigned to him. <br> <br> ``The other day he bolted, and the staff had to tackle him, and he broke his wrist when he went down,&#39;&#39; Callander told the surveyors. The names of patients and staff members were not included in the reports of the investigation. <br> <br> In a similar incident in February, the patient ended up with a broken right foot, according to the survey. <br> <br> The Augusta Chronicle reported that its sources said that just days before Gracewood received the warning about the funds cutoff, a patient fell out of a window and broke his neck, although officials insisted the events should not be connected. <br> <br> The newspaper said Callander would not discuss the patient, who reportedly is in fair condition at Medical College of Georgia Hospital.

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