Whistleblower raised neglect concerns before arrests at Bucks County senior home: lawsuit
A Philadelphia woman says she was fired after reporting alleged health and safety concerns at an Upper Southampton senior living community, where two former administrators were recently charged with covering up sexual abuse.
Jeanne Black worked for roughly 10 months as a receptionist at the Landing of Southampton in 2020 before she says she was terminated after she refused to stop contacting outside agencies and corporate officials about problems she believed endangered residents.
Black filed her wrongful termination lawsuit in Bucks County Common Pleas Court against the company owner Columbia/Wegman Landing LLC, and its management company LeisureCare LLC roughly three months before a Bucks County grand jury recommended filing criminal charges against former administrators Ashley Harker, 37, of Philadelphia, and Joy Alfonsi, 47, of Souderton.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office alleges Harker, the facility’s general manager, and Alfonsi, the director of health and wellness at the Street Road community, failed to report sexual abuse of three residents and attempted to cover up the incidents.
Philadelphia attorney Tamara Grimm, who is listed in the court docket as representing LeisureCare, did not respond to an email Friday seeking comment on the lawsuit.
The alleged abuse incidents involving Harker and Alfonsi occurred in 2021, after Black was terminated, but her lawsuit alleges that she observed similar, troubling problems at the facility after it started accepting residents in February 2020.
Campaign of retaliation alleged
Among the problems Black observed were delays in assisting residents who had fallen; nurses who were unavailable or unable to address emergencies; residents who didn’t get their medications on time; and failure to notify family when a resident was taken to the hospital, according to the suit.
Among the biggest safety concerns Black cited was what she called a “standing rule” that Harker implemented that staff was not allowed to call 911 under any conditions before she was contacted, according to the suit.
In an interview, Black said she first went to corporate with her health and safety concerns in September 2020, after an incident where a resident who fell claimed he was having a heart attack and a medical technician went to her unsure what to do because he couldn’t call 911.
“I said, ‘If he is having a heart attack, call 911,' ” Black said.
Three hours after she reported the complaints to LeisureCare’s Vice President of Operations Michael Juno, the lawsuit alleges that Harker emailed Black regarding her “attitude” and gave her a list of “areas of concern” where she wanted improvement.
Black claims in the lawsuit it was the first time since she started working at the facility that any issues about her demeanor and job performance were raised.
“To the contrary, Ms. Black had received several accolades and compliments from coworkers for her work performance,” the lawsuit said.
Black alleges after she brought her concerns to Juno’s attention that Harker embarked on a campaign of retaliation against her, which included telling other staff not to speak to Black or risk losing their jobs.
Within five days after she spoke with Juno, Black alleges she received four emails from the management team outlining things that she was “suddenly” doing wrong and where improvements were needed.
More on charges: Upper Southampton managers of memory care center charged with failing to report sexual abuse
When Black complained to Juno that she felt Harker was retaliating against her, his response was that the emails were not “unreasonable,” the suit said.
Later that month Juno visited the center to investigate Black’s claims, but the lawsuit alleges that he only spoke with employees and residents that Harker recommended. In a follow-up meeting with Harker and the business manager, Juno told Black that his investigation found “no serious concerns.”
When Black contacted another operations manager who visited the facility and found problems, Juno reprimanded her, stating the investigation was “outside the scope of (Black’s) concern,” and accused Black of an “ulterior motive,” the suit said.
In late September 2020, two days after Black contacted the Bucks County Area Agency on Aging about her concerns, she claims she came into work and found a photograph on her desk vandalized. Someone had drawn “X” marks over her daughter’s faces, she said.
'Watch your back, whistleblower."
When she returned to her desk after a break the next day, Black found a note warning her to “watch your back, whistleblower,” according to the suit.
Black immediately notified management and reported the incident to the Upper Southampton police department, according to the suit. A week later, she said, Juno put a letter in her employment file addressing various performance issues.
Finally, Black alleges she was called into a meeting on Oct. 22, 2020, where Juno told her to drop her reporting efforts. When Black refused, she was fired and escorted off the property, the lawsuit said.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office brought the charges against Harker and Alfonsi on May 19 following a Bucks County grand jury investigation, which recommended charging them with failing to report that three female residents had been sexually abused by a male resident last July.
All four residents were diagnosed with dementia. Authorities allege an 88-year-old male resident first sexually assaulted a female resident one week after he was transferred from the personal care section to its 36-bed secured dementia unit in mid-July 2021. After the first incident he allegedly sexually assaulted two more women within six days.
Black's claims that employees were discouraged from filing incident reports and calling 911 mirror allegations contained in the grand jury report for Harker and Alfonsi.
The AG's office alleges the two administrators instructed employees who witnessed the sexual abuse incidents not to document the incidents, according to the grand jury.
The administrators also allegedly failed to report the abuse incidents to the Bucks County Agency on Aging and law enforcement. They also didn’t report the incidents, as required by law, to the state Department of Human Services, which oversees personal care and assisted living centers.
The Landing was cited by the state Department of Human Services in April, according to court documents. On April 12, the DHS revoked The Landing's certificate of compliance. The Landing was given a provisional license until October, which is when it has to provide a plan to correct the deficiencies, according to state records.
Alfonsi and Harker were terminated from their jobs in October, according to the company.
The women each face five felony charges for endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person and conspiracy as well as 11 related misdemeanor charges. The defendants, who are free on unsecured bail, face a preliminary hearing on the charges tentatively scheduled for June 30.
Pennsylvania licensing records show Alfonsi’s nursing license, which she has had since 2008, is still listed as active with no disciplinary actions. Online records show her license is set to expire at the end of this month.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Whistleblower lawsuit alleges early problems at Landings of Southampton
