Columbia family claims poor treatment at nursing home

Victoria Hayes called the “bear of a man” from South Dakota dad.

Donald DuBois was her mother’s fifth husband, a truck driver who met her mother, Brenda, at Midway Truck Stop in 2003.

“My mom had always wanted someone that was good to her and treated her like a queen, and he definitely did do that,” Hayes said.

DuBois’ health slipped in 2012 when he suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body. He was left with limited ability to speak and needed help moving, eating and cleaning. Hayes, a nurse, cared for DuBois herself at home with the help of a hospice service. In May 2018, she left for nine days to South Carolina for her son’s wedding and left DuBois in the care of Parkside Manor, a skilled nursing facility in Columbia.

Hayes said some of her friends warned her about the facility on Hunt Avenue. The low price of the stay and the shortness of the trip led her to go with Parkside Manor anyway.

“It’s just for 10 days, what can happen in 10 days?” Hayes asked.

ABC 17 News has previously reported on problems state inspectors found at Parkside Manor. One inspection found that the facility did not have federally required alarms next to a whirlpool tub where a woman died. A staff member was fired shortly after a resident claimed abuse in late 2018. An ABC 17 News review of Department of Health and Senior Services records shows that Parkside Manor received the most complaints of any skilled nursing facility in Boone County since 2014.

SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES, BOONE COUNTY COMPLAINTS (2014 – PRESENT) Ashland Health Care 9 The Bluffs 7 Columbia Manor Care 8 Columbia Post Acute 1 Heritage Hall 7 Lenoir Health Care 4 Neighborhoods 10 Parkside Manor 14 South Hampton Place 9 Villa at Blue Ridge 13

Not all complaints led to DHSS issuing a plan of correction, the department’s order for a facility to fix something that broke state regulation.

Hayes said a couple days into her trip, her friend showed her pictures of DuBois with scars on his head. Staff at Parkside Manor claimed DuBois had fallen from his bed. Later that week, the friend found DuBois in a geriatric chair and sores began developing on his foot and leg from spending several hours there.

When Hayes returned to Columbia, she said DuBois’ physical appearance worsened. Pictures show scabs forming on his forehead, bruises on the inside of his arms and large purple spots wrapped up in bandages.

“I noticed the blood stains on the wall that they had not wiped up,” Hayes said. “I noticed the blood on the floor that they had not wiped up. There was his sheets, were soiled with blood.”

Hayes never took her complaints to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the agency responsible for oversight of nursing facilities.

“I was told that even if I did go to the state, that it wouldn’t matter, that it would not be taken care of,” Hayes said.

State law requires inspectors to visit each licensed nursing home twice in a fiscal year, at least one of which is unannounced. Tracy Niekamp, administrator of the state’s long-term care regulation, said the state never gives facilities a heads-up when it comes for the required inspections or when it investigates complaints.

“When we go into a home, we want to make sure that we are seeing an accurate picture of what’s going on in the facility,” Niekamp said.

Parkside Manor’s administrator, Jennifer Brazell, did not respond to multiple requests for comment about DuBois’ stay.

Niekamp said the state received more than 10,000 complaints about nursing homes in 2018. The state employs 195 inspectors to follow up on those complaints, broken down into seven regions. Niekamp said between the complaint investigations, required licensing inspections and a federal survey issued to facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid, the state does enough to ensure facilities are safe.

The department takes complaints at its hotline, (800) 392-0210.

“My best advice is to contact us,” Niekamp said when asked what she would say to people who mistrust the system. “Contact us and let us help educate you and teach you what the regulations are.”

Hayes said DuBois’ condition worsened when they returned home in late May 2018.

“You would see him crying,” Hayes said. “And he just totally went straight downhill from there. And in two months, which was six years after his stroke, he passed away.”

DuBois’ death certificate said he died from complications from his stroke. Hayes admitted that DuBois would eventually die because of the stroke, but wondered if his stay at Parkside Manor made things worse.

“He was going to pass away because he had the massive stroke and he had brain damage, but it made me wonder if he would still be alive today,” she said.

(Editor’s note, 5/21, 8:53 p.m.: This story has been updated with new information on the number of complaints DHSS has investigated at each skilled nursing facility.)