STATE SHUTS WALDWICK REST HOME AFTER OWNERS' INDICTMENT IN N.Y.

The Record (New Jersey)

Author: ALEX NUSSBAUM, Staff Writer; The Record

The state closed a Waldwick home for the elderly Friday, a day after its owners were indicted for the alleged neglect of a senior citizen in their Rockland County, N.Y., boarding home.

The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services removed the final three residents Friday from the Shannon House Rest Home on Hopper Avenue, citing a lack of supervision because the owners were in the Rockland County Jail.

The Montvale couple, Maureen and Michael Culhane, were charged Thursday with locking an 87-year-old woman in a room in their Pearl River boarding home. Their indictment came a week after New Jersey shut another boarding home they owned, the Hillas Vale Guest Lodge in Montvale, for allegedly unsanitary conditions.

The 18-bed Waldwick home, where admissions had been banned by the state for months, was in better condition than Hillas Vale. But there were still problems with a lack of supervision for the elderly tenants, officials said.

"It's not in that bad condition today," said Rod Preiss, a health officer in Waldwick and Montvale. "But just like in Hillas Vale, we had a health care facility without the care."

The state moved two occupants to Whitehall Residence, a home for seniors in Rochelle Park, said Marilyn Riley, a Health Department spokeswoman. A third resident went home with his family, said the man's sister, Betty Murphy.

"We were extremely upset" with conditions at the home "and very happy to see now that this place is closed," she said.

"This woman deserves everything she gets," she said of Maureen Culhane.

The Culhanes, who pleaded not guilty to the New York charges, were still in jail Friday.

The accusations stem from the January discovery of an elderly woman at the Adare Manor in Pearl River. Firefighters, responding to an alarm, found her suffering from bedsores, infections, malnutrition, and dehydration, the county District Attorney's Office said. The severity of the sores indicated the woman, the only tenant, had not been moved in weeks, prosecutors said.

Shannon House is a residential health care facility, a home for senior citizens without serious mobility or medical problems, but who cannot live independently. The facility was supposed to offer a homelike atmosphere, food, recreational activities, and supervision of medication, according to the state.

The Culhanes took over the business about five years ago. But citing problems with care and supervision, the state forbade new admissions and stripped the Culhanes' license a year ago.

The decision is under appeal by the couple, but the state decided to act Friday after learning of the Culhanes' incarceration. They were the only staff at Shannon House on weekends, Riley said.

Residents will not return even if the owners are freed, she said.

The Culhanes could face penalties in the Waldwick case. They also face a $10,000 fine from the state Department of Community Affairs for refusing to allow inspectors to enter their Montvale boarding home.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office has said it will investigate possible charges stemming from the conditions in Montvale, but had no further information on the probe Friday.

Staff Writer Alex Nussbaum's e-mail address is nussbaum(at)bergen.com