In a press release sent to Newsweek, the Thomasville Police Department said that the incident occurred on Sunday, when officers were called to the Pine Ridge Health & Rehabilitation Center following reports “that staff could not be contacted by telephone and had not been seen by some residents of the facility.”
Pine Ridge Health & Rehabilitation Center’s parent company, Principal LTC, operates 56 centers in North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky, “offering services ranging from short-term transitional care to Alzheimer’s and dementia care,” according to police.
Shortly after receiving the 911 calls, officers with the Thomasville Police Department arrived at the nursing home and determined that it was understaffed. When officers arrived, there were only three staff members working to accommodate 98 patients, according to the press release. The three staff members that were working at the time included “one licensed practical nurse and two certified nursing assistants,” police said.
After determining that there was “inadequate staffing,” the police called the Thomasville Fire Department and Davidson County Emergency Medical Services for further assistance in handling the situation.
Officials with the Thomasville Fire Department and Davidson County EMS began going door-to-door to check on patients within the facility and found two deceased patients, police said.
“The families of the deceased had been notified earlier in the day by staff. The two deceased individuals were sent to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital for autopsies,” the press release said.
Two other patients were found in “critical condition,” and both were transported to area hospitals shortly after.
Thomasville Police Captain Brad Saintsing stated in the press release that “weather and road conditions contributed to the inadequate staffing issues with this facility.” The National Weather Service in Raleigh, North Carolina issued several warnings over the weekend for residents to be mindful of freezing rain and black ice.
“Take extra care driving/walking after sunset through Tuesday morning! Temperatures will fall into the upper teens to mid 20s tonight and any lingering wet roads/sidewalks will result in black ice!” the Raleigh National Weather Service tweeted on Sunday, noting that some of the most widespread black ice was in Davidson County, where the nursing home is located.
“First and foremost, we want to ensure each and every resident of the facility is getting the quality of care they deserve. With these type of facilities, there is a protocol and we want to ensure it was followed as it relates to the weather and/or emergency situations,” Saintsing said.
Police said that the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is currently at the facility supervising. The NCDHHS confirmed to Newsweek that the Pine Ridge Health and Rehabilitation Center is a licensed nursing home and said that the agency’s Division of Health Service Regulation is currently “on-site to conduct an investigation of the facility’s compliance with the applicable requirements.”
