State health inspectors launch emergency raid on northwest Reno group home

Nearly six months after state officials noted serious problems — including bed bugs, filth and a lack of controls on medications — in a northwest Reno group home, inspectors launched an emergency investigation at the house and removed at least one woman in an ambulance.

The emergency raid at the house came one day after the Reno Gazette-Journal asked questions about the group home on Kings Row after a woman called to describe filthy conditions inside the house.

"Oh boy, do they have bed bugs," said Wanda Magliocco, who helps care for an elderly friend who lives at the house. "I won't even go in the front door anymore because I'm afraid I'll get bed bugs."

Magliocco said she took her friend and his developmentally disabled roommate to a restaurant recently and "here's bed bugs crawling out of (the roommate's) shirt!"

Magliocco also described a bedridden resident who urinated on the mattress.

"I used to go in and say hi to her," Magliocco said. "But she is confined to the bed. She doesn't open the door anymore."

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State health and elder abuse inspectors arrived at the home about 8:45 a.m. Friday, after the Reno Gazette-Journal relayed Magliocco's concerns to the state on Thursday. While the state Department of Health and Human Services confirmed an active investigation, officials could provide little further comment on the house.

"Our regulators who were out there today did what they were supposed to do," DHHS Director Richard Whitley said. "That is, if they identify a consumer in jeopardy, they are not to leave the facility until they remediate it. Calling the ambulance was the appropriate thing to do. They saw a risk and they took action."

The home appears to be operated by Silver State Behavioral Health, owned by Larry Carter.

Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Carter said the female resident was taken from the home because she needs a "higher level of care" than he is licensed to provide.

Carter said he provides assisted living services to clients with behavioral or developmental health issues. Such services include prompts for such things as taking medication, bathing or eating. Under his license, Carter said, he is unable to bathe clients or take more hands-on actions.

He said he was waiting for the results of the inspection and said he would take care of any bed bug issues.

"My administrator is there and if there is some kind of problem like that, I'm quite sure we will make an appointment to get that dealt with as soon as possible," Carter said.

The group home appears to be an unlicensed facility, where Medicaid clients are housed without state supervision or inspections. Because the home's clients are not also clients of the state's mental health or developmental services agencies, the house has fallen into a regulatory black hole with no consistent oversight.

Pieces of the paper trail obtained by the Reno Gazette-Journal in its initial investigation into the home show complaints have been bounced from the city to the state to the county, while the residents remained at the house.

In December, state health officials referred a complaint of bed bugs to the city of Reno code enforcement division. City officials said they referred the complaint back to the state, believing the state regulates group homes.

In September, two ombudsmen from the state Division of Aging and Disability Services walked through the house and noted the "home appeared dirty inside."

"There were stains on the carpet, dark spots on the walls and (the) resident stated the facility had bed bugs as well," the report said.

The ombudsmen also noted the house had no medication list or documentation and said there were fights at night among the residents. The ombudsmen's attempt to discuss the condition with the house's caregiver resulted in little information, the report said.

The ombudsmen concluded that they had "concerns about the facility possibly operating as an unlicensed group home."

DHHS spokeswoman Chrystal Main said she had no information immediately available about how that complaint was handled by the department, or if any follow-up occurred before the emergency inspection on Friday.

"We are gathering as much of the information as is possible to the best of our knowledge, and until we have that and reviewed it, really we have nothing we can contribute," Main said.

Main did confirm that neither the state's developmental services or mental health services agencies have clients at the home.

Carter said his clients routinely come from the Community Assistance Center, which serves as the homeless shelter for the cities of Reno and Sparks and Washoe County.

He said his clients pay a portion of the rent with their Social Security or disability income. He said he charges about $500 a month to live in the house. He then bills Medicaid for the "wrap around" supported living services the clients need.

"It's actually more so their house than it is our house," Carter said. "We are just managing it."