PORTLAND, Ore. — A Sandy senior care center was shut down on Friday and residents were relocated after the state suspended the facility's license.
Mt. Hood Senior Living is a residential and memory care facility with 50 beds. The Oregon Department of Human Services says the facility is a "serious threat to resident health and safety," listing seven violations in an order issued to Mt. Hood Senior Living ownership.
DHS alleges the facility didn't provide a safe and sanitary kitchen, properly train staff, and failed to safely administer medication.
"These findings pose an immediate jeopardy to residents," the order reads. "The kitchen was closed temporarily on January 23, 2024, to correct safety concerns. The kitchen remains closed because [Mt. Hood Senior Living] has been unable to make adequate corrections in a timely manner to ensure resident health and safety."
The document also references the death of a resident that occurred Dec. 25, 2023, saying, "The Licensee’s failure to properly care plan placed this resident at risk of harm which resulted in death."
According to Sandy police, 83-year-old Ki Soon Hyun wandered away from the memory care unit and about a day later, she was found dead.
Mt. Hood Senior Living was also facing complaints from 2023. The state listed three licensure violations found during an investigation in November.
Once DHS suspended Mt. Hood Senior Living's license on Friday, residents were forced to leave.
Families of residents received an email on Friday afternoon which said, "State staff conveyed that our residents would be relocated from our facility by midnight on January 26th by state team. As of now, we do not have further information, and the state has assured us that they will take responsibility for contacting you."
Melissa Fisher's 71-year-old aunt, Bonnie Everett, lives in the facility. She said they were shocked to hear she would need to be moved within a few hours.
"Floored, angry, completely frustrated," Fisher said. "I could barely believe that this was actually happening on a Friday night."
Everett suffers from dementia and needs individual care to ensure she eats and takes medication. Fisher said she didn't know where her aunt was taken and whether she had all her belongings.
"Our loved ones were literally thrown out, taken to places and not well communicated with, nor given any point of contact to help us," Fisher said.
Everett is staying at another care facility in Oregon City for now. But Fisher is frustrated that her family wasn't contacted by DHS and wasn't given the chance to weigh in on where her aunt should go.
"How are we supposed to collectively get my aunt to a point of stability again? This has been wholly disruptive to her and to the rest of her family and everyone else who is experiencing this," Fisher said.
A spokesperson for DHS said the agency understands that a suspension like this can be difficult for residents.
"When ODHS takes a regulatory action such as an Order of Suspension, it weighs that decision very carefully including the potential for that action to be disruptive to residents," said DHS spokesperson Elisa Williams.
Fisher said her family wants more support and assurance that her aunt will be properly cared for.
"Help us figure out how, quickly, we can resolve this in a way that honors the care needs of our aunt," she said.