State: Staff abandoned senior care home residents during wine country wildfires

Complaint alleges 20 residents would have died if not for family members

State regulators moved Thursday to revoke the licenses of two Oakmont Senior Living care homes in Fountaingrove after investigators concluded its staff was poorly trained and abandoned residents during the October firestorm.

After a nearly year-long investigation, the state Department of Social Services filed a complaint alleging 20 residents at one of the facilities, Villa Capri, would have died if not for the work of family members who went to the northeast Santa Rosa property to retrieve loved ones and police who assisted the evacuation.

“These residents would have perished when the facility burned to the ground during the fire,” the complaint stated.

Regulators also alleged the administrator and employees at a neighboring facility, Varenna, fled as flames approached the complex, leaving it unstaffed. About 70 remaining residents were evacuated by fellow residents, their families, friends and public safety personnel, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges staff at Villa Capri and Varenna were unfamiliar with the facilities’ emergency plan and had not been properly trained to provide adequate care to residents during an emergency.

Both facilities are operated by Oakmont Senior Living, a Windsor company founded in 1997 by Santa Rosa developer Bill Gallaher. It has planned and developed more than 40 retirement communities in the western United States.

Regulators are seeking a lifetime ban against two Oakmont Senior Living administrators – Deborah Smith, who managed Villa Capri, and Nathan Condie, who oversaw Varenna – that would prevent them from running any facility licensed by the Department of Social Services.

“Based on evidence gathered during the investigations and the statements of witnesses, the Department has determined that Oakmont Senior Living failed to protect the health and safety of residents at Varenna and Villa Capri. The Department served Oakmont Senior Living with legal notice to revoke the licenses of Varenna and Villa Capri and to exclude the administrators of both facilities for life,” Michael Weston, the agency’s deputy director of public affairs, said in a statement.