Nursing home's patients return day after evacuation
By JULIET FLETCHER
Staff Writer, 856-237-9020
Published: Saturday, September 27, 2008
PITTSGROVE TOWNSHIP - A day after the suspected overuse of a routine pesticide forced the evacuation of close to 70 elderly patients from a nursing home, officials there praised the late-night effort to find them shelter.Ambulances and other vehicles circled the Rainbow Center for Healthcare and Rehabilitation on Friday morning, dropping off some of the center's frail patients, many of whom had remained in area hospitals overnight.Nursing home officials said the incident, which began when a firm spraying a pesticide triggered an air-monitor alarm, was the first such emergency to happen in the facility.Within a half-hour of the alarm sounding midafternoon Thursday, those patients left the building and were kept under its front awning as vehicles prepared to shuttle them to available hospital beds. Reginald Goring, Rainbow Center administrator, said nursing staff had been looking for any symptoms of airborne exposure to the chemical, known as Delta Dust, which kills insects but also is an eye, nose and throat irritant.
Goring commended the evacuation, which he said had saved patients from experiencing those symptoms. "Let me say, nobody was hurt. There were no injuries, not even a flesh tear," he said.Linda Thompson, who works in the center's laundry, said she had seen residents arriving Friday morning. "Some were back last night," she said. "The rest have been coming back today." Goring said Friday afternoon that only 20 of the residents had not yet returned.Laurence Baird, executive vice president of the facility's parent company, American Healthcare Corp., confirmed that they were waiting for the results of an external investigation by State Police rather than investigating the incident internally. Goring said the contracting firm that released the spray was Western Pest Control.Sgt. Edward Robertson, of the Bridgeton State Police barracks, said the investigation was drawing to a close. "There aren't going to be criminal charges, because it seems like a mistake," he said.A spokeswoman for the state Department for Health and Senior Services said Friday that the center had not had previous problems with any chemical or hazardous material.However, the spokeswoman, Marilyn Riley, said the last report about the center was completed Aug. 13 and found what she described as "11 deficiencies in unrelated areas."Baird said he was aware of the recent inspection, but said he could not comment on its details.E-mail Juliet Fletcher:JFletcher@pressofac.com
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