Absent resident prompts citation for care facility

EL CENTRO — The unauthorized oneday absence on May 2 of an elderly resident from the Casa Elite residential care facility here resulted in a citation from the state Department of Social Services.

The unidentified resident had reportedly been left unattended during an outing and subsequently could not be found, according to a report by the department’s Community Care Licensing Division.

The resident was reportedly found a day later by a former Casa Elite sta member at an undisclosed location and returned to the facility, located in the 1700 block of Citrus Lane, a facility evaluation report stated.

The incident prompted an unannounced case management visit by a Community Care Licensing division evaluator on May 6.

The division’s subsequent investigation into the incident determined that the elderly resident was not allowed to be left alone in the community unassisted by facility sta , the report stated.

The resident’s medical diagnosis also did not permit the individual to be left unattended in the community.

The leaving the resident unattended in the community, Casa Elite failed to adequately provide basic health and safety services and was cited for the deficiency, the facility evaluation report stated.

As part of the citation, Casa Elite was ordered by the state to

provide training to all of its care staff about providing the necessary supervision to clients in care.

The facility’s administrator agreed to submit a staff training roster confirming staff’s attendance at the training, and a description of the training material to the Community Care Licensing Division by Friday.

Additionally, the facility administrator was required to obtain

an updated medical assessment, or physician’s report, for the elderly resident in question by the specified plan of correction date, which was Friday.

It was not immediately clear if the specified corrections had been implemented as requested. A manager at the facility referred all questions to the owner, who was expected to be out of town for a few weeks,

At the time of the incident, it was reported to the San Diego Regional Center, as well as the police, hospital and hotels, the facility evaluation report stated.

In 2017, the facility was issued a similar deficiency citation for not having absentee notification plans in place for all eight of the residents in its care at that time, an October 2017 facility evaluation report stated.