Arbors at Fairlawn

The Arbors at Fairlawn is a nursing home located at 575 South Cleveland Massillon Road in Fairlawn, Ohio 44333. It is a facility with 88 beds. It is a for-profit facility owned and operated by ARK OPCO GROUP, LLC.

The Arbors at Fairlawn has been flagged by Medicare as a nursing home that's been cited for abuse in the past.

The Arbors at Fairlawn was issued a federal fine on February 6, 2023 in the amount of $63,642.00.

It was issued a federal fine on August 15, 2022 of $23,979.00.

It was issued a federal fine on September 7, 2021 of $3,250.00.

This is concerning because there are a number of facilities known as "Arbors at ________" throughout Ohio. There are sixteen (16) such facilities. All of these facilities are owned by ARK OPCO GROUP, LLC. Of these sixteen (16) facilities, five (5) of them have been cited for abuse. Six (6) of them have an overall rating of 1 star out of 5 stars.

One of these facilities, The Arbors at Oregon, was recently in the news because the coroner has determined that one of their residents, 72-year-old Lucy Garcia, died on July 2, 2024 from months of medical neglect resulting in her suffering severe bed sores which ultimately caused her death. She had been a resident at the Arbors at Oregon nursing home for years. Her death has now been ruled a homicide after complications of a bed sore or sacral pressure ulcer caused her death according to the coroner. The coroner has presented its findings to the prosecutor, which has led local police to investigate that facility.

The Arbors at Oregon is owned by the same company that owns these other facilities. The Arbors at Oregon facility was under investigation in 2019, and one of its employees was convicted in 2019 of patient abuse.

Sometimes, a resident can be in a facility for an extended period of time, and then all of a sudden begin to show signs of injury. This often happens if their needs change. If a resident is able to be mobile, and able to turn and reposition themselves, and then their mobility or their ability to turn and reposition themselves changes, that can result in that resident developing injuries if the staff is not taking proper care of them.

If somebody is not able to turn and reposition themselves in a chair or in a bed, then the staff at the nursing home is obligated to turn and reposition them on a regular basis. If the staff does not turn and reposition them on a regular basis, and that resident is allowed to lay in the same position or sit in the same position for an extended period of time, that resident will likely develop skin breakdown. Skin breakdown is caused by unrelieved pressure. If a person sits in the same position for a long time, or a person lays in a position for a long time and the pressure is not relieved on their body, then blood cannot circulate through the tissues. This literally results in tissue death, and the resident develops skin breakdown. Skin breakdown is staged in different stages.

• A Stage 1 bedsore is reddened area. It's an area that non-blanchable, which means that if you put pressure on that area, it does not turn white and then turn red again like healthy skin does.
• A Stage 2 bedsore is an open area. The skin is broken. Your skin is a protective layer that helps protect against infection. Once that skin is broken, the person's exposure or the person's vulnerability to infection is greatly increased. If that skin breakdown is in the sacral area, or buttocks area, and that resident is incontinent, then that resident is now at grave risk for infection every time they have an episode of incontinence.
• A Stage 3 bedsore is deeper and usually larger than a Stage 2 bedsore.
• A Stage 4 bedsore is even deeper and often goes all the way to the bone.
• An unstageable bed sore is a bedsore that has slough or scab on the top of it, and so the staff is not able to stage it because they're not able to see how deep it is.

Skin breakdown is a very serious problem. It's one of the most common issues that we deal with in our nursing home cases here at The Dickson Firm. When you have a facility that is not providing appropriate care to their residents, very often those residents develop skin breakdown.

Very often, nursing home companies, short the staff of their facilities. A nursing home only has so many beds. Once those beds are filled, the nursing home really doesn't have an ability to make any additional money. The only way to increase profits is to reduce their expenses. One of the largest line items on any nursing home budget is staffing. Therefore, nursing homes often cut their staffing in order to increase their profits. They replace RNs with LPNs because RNs make more money than LPNs. They replace LPNs with STNAs or nurse's aides, because nurses make more money than nurses aides. This leaves the nursing home staffed by people with minimal training and minimal qualifications, and often leads to injury and even death of the residents.

If you're concerned that your loved one is not receiving appropriate care in a nursing home, it's imperative that you consider moving them to a better nursing home. We realize that moving an elderly nursing home resident, particularly one with dementia or confusion, can be very difficult and even traumatic on the resident. But if they are not receiving appropriate care, you must seriously consider moving them. The family of Lucy Garcia did not move their loved one, and she ultimately died, as a result of the neglect that she suffered at the Arbors at Oregon nursing home.

If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at The Dickson Firm at 1-800-OHIO LAW as we would be happy to talk with you and help you in any way that we can.