LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — An emergency order released Monday by Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration reveals the air conditioning system inside a Lake Worth Beach assisted living facility had been broken for more than a week before county officials evacuated the building earlier this month.
The June 12 order suspends the license for Crest Manor to operate its 52-bed facility, and details what led to that suspension.
WATCH: Facility's license suspended, PBCFR report finds 27 violations
According to the emergency suspension order, “Problems began [at Crest Manor] on or about May 27,” when the air conditioning failed, “resulting in room temperatures above 81 degrees,” the limit by state law.
On June 6, 10 days after the AC broke, a resident called 911 to “address fighting between residents,” according to the order. Law enforcement officers noticed the hot temperatures and called the fire department.
Palm Beach County emergency officials said the administrator at Crest Manor was not cooperative, and the fire marshal issued a cease and desist order, barring residents from 10 rooms considered dangerously hot.
PREVIOUS: Assisted living facility shut down due to heat concerns
The order says when county emergency officials returned the next day, they found Crest Manor “again failed to provide adequate hydration,” and “failed to conduct individual temperature checks of residents.”
They also found residents in bed in five of the rooms deemed unsafe by the fire marshal.
In those rooms, “the residents were sweating, asking for fluids due to thirst, and appeared to be overheated.”
Again, the order says the administrator was not cooperative.
Roughly 24 hours after that initial 911 call, the order says the entire facility was evacuated via another cease and desist. At that point, officials noted the temperature in some rooms had soared above 90 degrees.
The order says the evacuation didn’t go well, either.
Facility staff allegedly didn’t arrange for adequate transportation to other facilities, and sent four residents to a different facility without any clothes or belongings.
On June 9, two days after the evacuation, state inspectors found a resident “sitting in a common area” of Crest Manor, in defiance of the cease and desist. According to the order, the resident was sent to stay with family during the evacuation, but the family hadn’t been told why the facility was evacuated and sent the resident back to Crest Manor in an Uber.
“These occurrences are not isolated to an individual staff member but permeate the Facility’s culture and are in violation of statutorily mandated resident rights to live in a safe and decent living environment, free from abuse and neglect," the order says.
During a brief phone call Monday with WPTV, Sewsankar Rengasawmy, the owner of Crest Manor, declined an interview, but described the allegations as a “minor issue.” He said he was working to fix the air conditioning.
The emergency order notes the fire marshal’s opinion that the current AC system in Crest Manor is too small for a facility that size, and that it needs a complete overhaul.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue inspection
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue also released a report Monday, following its inspection of Crest Manor.
The report lists 27 violations, ranging from multiple electrical hazards, cigarettes discarded "across the property" with no designated smoking area, trip hazards and obstructed exits, and out-of-date inspections.
In the report, the inspector writes that the owner of Crest Manor indicated that some repairs to the facility were pending.
Fire officials give Crest Manor a deadline of June 27 to correct the violations.
