Lake police complain about center

• Complaints, concerns aired by police, fire and rescue personnel concerning Waccamaw Village Assisted Living Center.

By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

Two weeks ago, a male resident of the Waccamaw Village Assisted Living Center was arrested on a charge of forcing a female resident to perform a sex act.

Another resident, a female, was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to sell cocaine from her quarters at the same facility, located at the end of the dead-end Wananish Avenue at Lake Waccamaw.

These incidents, plus a laundry list of other complaints about residents of the center, prompted Police Chief Scott Hyatt and Fire and Rescue Chief Eddy Morgan to come forward with a list of complaints.

Officials of the business, plus Hyatt, Morgan, Town Manager Darren Currie, and some Department of Social Service workers will meet this month in an attempt to smooth the issues. (See related story)

“We’re not against this business and the residents, but the way it’s being run now is an unsafe environment for them and the rest of the people at the lake,” Hyatt declared.

Fire chief worried

“If there’s a fire there’s no way to get them out. The doors are locked so no entry can be made from the outside,” Morgan said. “We’d have to break out the doors or windows to get in,” he added.

“They do fire drills, but I feel we wouldn’t be able to get them all out. There are bedridden people in there, plus some who have to use wheelchairs. The keypad for entry from the outside is broken. It’s just not a safe place,” Morgan continued.

He said his records show rescue workers transported one woman 14 times in one week because she wouldn’t go to a doctor. “That’s aggravation, but the real issue is not knowing what to expect,” the fire and rescue chief pointed out.

Morgan said during one trip to get the woman he found a man in a wheelchair outside the building with one entire side of his face bloodied. Another man was standing nearby, and said, “I hit him.” Morgan said he didn’t know what caused the assault or the consequences.

List of problems

There were only two female workers at the facility. “Two women can’t handle violent people,” the fire and rescue chief said.

Hyatt noted some of the problems he and his officers have faced with residents of the center during the past two years:

• Police went to the center last week and found only two staff members on duty. They were told there are 70 people living there, several with major health issues.

• A lake homeowner found three men from the facility passed out after a drinking party in the owner’s vacant home that was being remodeled.

• Some of the male residents standing or sitting outside lake businesses panhandling for money to buy beer, liquor and cigarettes.
Street trouble

• One man found at night by police passed out on a lake street and removed before he was hit by a vehicle.

• A resident in a motorized wheelchair motored to the intersection of the four-lane U.S. 74-76 and was turned back just before being struck by a passing 18-wheeler. None of the center’s staff knew he was gone.

• Two men sitting and drinking in the backyard of a nearby residence without permission or notice.

• A resident with Alzheimer’s wandered away from the center three times. He didn’t know where he was going or where he lived.

Communicable diseases

• Communicable diseases among the residents, but police not being told about health conditions by the staff because of federal laws.

• A woman was picked up by friends in a vehicle at the center at 8 p.m. one night, but the staff didn’t know she was gone until 5 a.m. the next morning. She was located in a home in a neighborhood near Hallsboro where several arrests for dealing in drugs have been made.

• Several assaults taking place in recent months involving at least one or more residents, but nothing done because most assault cases require the victim to swear out a warrant.

• There was one fire at the center last year caused by a male smoking in the closet in his room.

‘Nothing happens’

Hyatt said there were 206 calls for rescue, fire or police help at the facility in 2007. Police had to respond 75 times. This compares to 76 calls last year for the Premier Living and Rehab Center – a second medical facility separately owned and operated -- where police were needed just seven times.

“We’ve called every agency and person you can think of to get something done. Nothing happens,” a frustrated Hyatt said.

“We know many of these people have medications to take at certain times, and we’ve found some of them mixing alcohol with this medication,” the chief noted.

Some residents revert to fits of rage, and the small number of staff members can’t handle them, Hyatt said.
Some fine people

Hyatt said some residents of the home, which was formerly known as Waccamaw Village Senior Living Center, have been calling the facility home for nearly 20 years.

“There are some who are simply fine people, and they don’t cause problems, but these new residents have dependencies.

“We’ve seen evidence of illegal drugs and uncontrolled use of alcohol. And, the abuse of all of it,” the police chief declared.

“We’re not against this facility or the people living there. They need a secure place to keep them safe, but the way it’s being operated, the residents aren’t safe and the rest of the people at the lake aren’t safe,” Hyatt said.

Hyatt said he had talked with the facility’s management people last week, and they pledged that no one would leave without the staff knowing it, and each resident signed a document stating they’d obey the rules.

“But, we’ve done that before, and it didn’t last long. We’ve tried everything, and we’re at a dead end,” Hyatt stated.