The Perry community was rocked Tuesday by revelations of ongoing violations and abuses at the Rowley Masonic Community.
The report by Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter Clark Kauffman detailed a mounting number of violations issued to the 57-bed long-term care facility by the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals since 2017, including allegations of injuries, sexual abuse and a death suffered by residents.
Also disclosed were the facility’s ongoing financial struggles, which contributed to or at least coincided with the alleged wide-ranging violations, according to Kauffman.
A follow-up report by Kauffman Wednesday quoted a written statement from Greg Greenwood, administrator with Minneapolis-based Health Dimensions Group, which manages the Rowley Masonic Community.
Greenwood said he is “aware of the long-term, historical challenges at Rowley Masonic Community” and is “identifying and taking the corrective steps necessary to improve the wellbeing of our residents,” but “such matters take time to remedy.”
Greenwood said new leadership has been appointed, and “new clinical systems, operational procedures and staff training” are underway. He said the facility’s reforms are undertaken in consultation with the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Greenwood did not return repeated calls from ThePerryNews.com. Reactions among Perry residents to Kauffman’s reports have been voluble, with many people expressing dismay and concern on social media.
The Rowley has been managed since November 2018 by Health Dimensions Group. The previous management company, Continuum Health Care Services, took over operation of the 57-bed Rowley Masonic Community in the summer of 2015.
The original long-term care facility at 3000 Willis Ave. was built in 1957. Construction of the $20 million, 72,000-square-foot addition to the Rowley at 1300 28th St. began in January 2014, and residents moved from the old to the new facility Feb. 11, 2015.
The 36-acre campus, offering independent living, assisted living, health care, dementia care and transitional rehabilitation, is operated by a board of directors through the Grand Lodge of Iowa, with a trust agreement administered by the Dallas County District Court and Otley Lodge 299 AF&AM.
This is very unfortunate. I know several who work or who have worked there who are stellar people and wonderful caregivers. As many here may know, I worked at different nursing homes over a fifteen year period. It’s very simple mathematics. For purposes of discussion, let’s just say there is one nurses aide caring for ten residents at any given time. It boils down to little or no care given to any individual resident ninety percent of the time. If there is no staff person seeing to your grandmother, it is usually because someone else’s grandmother is being seen to. When management reduces staffing to bring down expenses, the math becomes even more problematic. Anyway, cutting staff while trying to improve care and rectify problems is like trying to dig oneself out of a hole with a shovel.
I agree. I work at a nursing home ran by Health Dimensions Group in MN, and we have been drowning. We have no staff, and haven’t since before covid. They continue to take admits even after the higher ups in our facility tell them we can’t. All they seem to care about is the mighty dollar. I wish all of these smaller communities could afford to run their ltc facilities without the help of big corporations who don’t care about the people who reside or work in them. The patients and staff are the ones who truly suffer.