MONTICELLO – The ongoing situation at the Adult Care Center (ACC) at Sunset Lake in Liberty has been a central issue brought up at Sullivan County Legislature committee meetings over the last several weeks. 

President of the Family Council and Town of Callicoon resident, Lou Setran, read an anonymous letter from dozens of county medical staff at the ACC during public comment of the Health and Human Resources committee meeting on Thursday, March 14. The staff who penned the letter, 20 CNAs and 13 nurses, chose to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from management. 

In the letter to legislators, NYS Department of Health and Sullivan County Residents, the facility staff raised eight different concerns and gave examples of each. They raised concerns about staff shortages which they said has been the worst on weekends. It was also noted that there are names on the schedule that are listed as no-call/no-shows who weren’t supposed to work or ever signed up to work that shift. They said that agency staff does not show, they don’t get in trouble for it, but county staff does. 

“We have to follow policy, they don’t,” the staff said. “Holes in the schedule that are not filled: Management should fill the holes by coming into work and working the floors to see how we feel when working short.”

The staff also said that there are several ways in which county staff is treated differently than Infinite Care staff, including Infinite Care staff not having to follow county policies and procedures. They also said that there is no place for them to go to bring issues to management, as the Care Center administrator will tell them to speak with the Director of Nursing (D.O.N.) 

“We cannot talk to the D.O.N. because of the destabilization of staff,” the statement said. “We are sorry we believe management needs to be changed to a County Position people only, from Unit Managers up to the Administrator. It is a hostile environment. We are tired of being talked down to by management in front of residents and families.”

Finally, the staff spoke about the medical care of residents of the ACC, particularly noting that it takes prolonged periods for simple care to be completed. According to staff, that includes X-rays taking more than 24 hours to be done. 

In their conclusion of the letter, the staff said that they would like Cynthia Hathaway or Sue Southerton back as the D.O.N. and said, “At least these two ladies took care of issues and spoke to staff like a human.”

They concluded by saying, “There are more issues, but we would be here all day. Thank You for listening to our issues.”

District 5 Legislator Cat Scott and Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee said that she would like to see a full audit conducted of the facility. Other legislators who have a seat on the committee also expressed their concern. 

Health and Human Services Commissioner John Liddle referenced the Care Center in his monthly report, to which Scott asked several follow-up questions. Scott also asked for a more nuanced report in the portion of the report that references the ACC. 

In his report, Liddle said that the payroll-based journal hours which is how they calculate their coverage, shows that hours per resident per day is at four hours and 23 minutes. According to Liddle, the minimum for coverage is three and a half hours per resident per day. This number is the number of hours of licensed people doing direct care based on the number of residents who are in the facility at the time. 

“At this point, the only reason that staffing is showing as a one-star on CMS’ rankings is because of RN turnover,” said Liddle. “As RNs have left, retired or moved on that factors into that rating and if there’s a high rate of turnover, that can hold the ranking back.”

Liddle said that they expect to see the star rating for staffing improve sometime soon.