CHARLOTTE, N.Y. – Waterview Heights, a nursing home in Charlotte, is under scrutiny again due to allegations of neglect and understaffing. News10NBC’s Deanna Dewberry and Jennifer Lewke have investigated this facility multiple times, highlighting ongoing issues despite a name change from Shore Winds to Waterview Heights.

Tammy Werth, a registered nurse with 30 years of experience, recently spoke out about her time as a nurse manager at Waterview Heights.

“I know how a nursing home is supposed to be run,” Werth stated. She described the facility as severely understaffed, recounting a day when only three nurses were available for over 250 residents.

Werth reported that due to the lack of staff, residents went without medications and tube feedings.

“My residents didn’t get any medications yesterday or today,” she said.

It was just after midnight on Saturday, February 15 and she’d been at work for 16 hours. She admits at that point she had choice words for her manager, and he fired her.

A text message from the facility’s director of nursing on February 17 confirmed the staffing issues, stating, “We will need all hands on deck today. 1 nurse per floor. Lots of sick calls.”

The Grand Healthcare System owns Waterview Heights. Bruce Gendron, the vice president, confirmed the text message but says the text messages resulted in more staff coming to work. But he did not address the allegations of weekend staffing shortages.

“Department of Health closely monitors our staffing, and we work every day to maintain compliance in a challenging staffing environment,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Waterview Heights has faced allegations that critical staffing shortages have put residents at risk at Waterview Heights.

In November 2022, resident Carol Lennox was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Her family found her struggling to breathe. Her daughter told News10NBC there was only one CNA, certified nursing assistant, caring for 40 residents. Her daughter, Kathy Slocum, recounted, “He goes I can’t give her meds I’m only a CNA. And I go, so you mean to tell me that she has not had any meds this morning? He goes, ‘No, I’ve been here since 6:30 this morning and nobody’s gotten their meds.’”

State inspection records reveal Waterview Heights has “consistently demonstrated failure to maintain compliance” with practices that “have resulted in harm to residents” resulting in Waterview Heights receiving a Special Focus Facility designation. It now is inspected more frequently than compliant nursing homes.

The most recent inspection report from September of last year cited numerous cases of poor care, including residents lying in bed in feces with no clothes on. It says another resident was in a wheelchair with stool on the floor and bedsheets. And in another case, an inspector found a resident lying in a soaked incontinence pad at 1:30 pm. The resident said they’d not been changed from the night before, and “repeated requests” for help had gone unanswered, leaving them feeling like “a piece of crap.”

“It’s a pattern,” Werth said. “Residents everywhere, nurse! Help me. It may be just a cup of ice they want. But we can’t get to them. And then there’s big things. They’re not getting addressed.”

The Department of Health fined the facility $10,000 last year for poor quality of care.

They didn’t address these newest allegations but stated, “Ensuring nursing home residents receive proper care is a priority.”

Before you place a loved one in a nursing home, you should check the facility’s inspection reports. You can do so by clicking here. If you have a complaint about a nursing home, you can file a complaint with the New York State Department of health. You can do so by clicking here.

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