PETERSBURG, Va. (WRIC) — The residents of Fillmore Place — the assisted living facility with reportedly filthy conditions — are now moving out and moving on. Where they’ll go next though, is a mystery to many.
On Sept. 19, the Department of Social Services confirmed the license owners of the beleaguered Petersburg assisted living facility hadn’t appealed the state’s Aug. 29 notice of intent to deny license renewal. According to a spokesperson, that meant they were required to relocate residents, according to the DSS ALF Relocation Plan.
The next day, on Sept. 20, a neighbor told an 8News crew they’d seen some residents packing up and leaving Friday, the very day the appeal deadline passed.
“They’ve definitely been working to move them out fairly quickly,” said Ethan Calvert. “Resident vans come in, a lot of residents going out at particular times, a lot of them were taking their personal effects with them.”
Fillmore Place had been operating with a provisional license after failing its renewal inspection on Tuesday, Dec. 14. State records showed that Fillmore’s provisional license had been set to expire June 11. State regulations allow provisional licenses to remain valid for no more than six months without another renewal inspection. Fillmore Place’s provisional license renewal inspection took place on May 23. It failed that too. Our most recent investigation showed residents were still living in filthy conditions.
“I think the care being provided to them was really inadequate,” Calvert said.
A resident living there that spoke with 8News a few days later disagreed. He said that while state records showed inadequate bathroom and toilet paper access for some residents, he always had it. And while there were still bedbugs in the facility, they were less than there had been.
He told 8News that he’d lived in facilities with even less space than he had at Fillmore Place and he was tired of being shuffled from facility to facility. In addition, he was sitting on the sidewalk in his wheelchair waiting to be picked up to go to the next place and had no idea what it was called or what it would be like.
“I don’t know any places,” the resident said. “I’ve been shifted a lot.”
So in that regard, he’d at least rather stick with what he knows.
“I think for a lot of them there’s a bit of uncertainty and probably anxiety about what the future holds for them,” Calvert said. “But I’m hopeful because the care they were receiving here was the lowest possible.”
At least two other residents waiting to be picked up on Tuesday, also said the time had already passed for them to be picked up to go to their next facility. They also didn’t know the name of where they were going. All worried about being seen speaking with 8News and said they feared retaliation from staff.
DSS would not confirm what role, if any, they’re playing in the relocation of residents and whether they’re monitoring what’s happening to these residents in the meantime.
Before DSS determined it would not renew Fillmore’s license at all, the facility was part of a small, but seemingly growing group of ALFs statewide that significantly failed to comply with state standards to such a degree, they were granted a provisional license only. When 8News first began monitoring this class of ALFs in April, 11 facilities were provisionally licensed. The list has fluctuated over time, but at the time of publication, there are now 18 such facilities, including Fillmore.
