Greenport nursing home fined for failing to report abuse allegations

Embattled Greenport nursing home San Simeon by the Sound was fined $4,000 last year for failing to properly report and investigate abuse allegations, according to state inspection records.

The facility is among several East End nursing homes cited and fined by state regulators in recent years for violations ranging from infection control lapses to failures to protect residents, the records show.

San Simeon, which was evacuated and temporarily shut down last October after a smoke incident exposed safety violations, was one of only nine Long Island nursing homes fined last year by the New York State Department of Health, according to a Newsday investigation that first reported on the issue.

Over the past four years, San Simeon has accumulated $16,000 in state fines following inspections, according to the NYSDOH.

In December 2023, the nursing home was fined twice, for a total of $4,000, over two alleged abuse incidents that occurred that year.

In one case, a certified nursing assistant (CNA) was reportedly seen “slapping” a resident “in the face” and pushing the resident “back to bed forcibly,” according to the complaint survey. The citation noted the resident had “severe cognition impairment,” requiring physical assistance.

After learning of the incident, the nursing home administrator and director of nursing reported it to the state Health Department. The CNA accused of abusing the resident was immediately suspended. Another CNA who witnessed the incident but did not promptly report it received disciplinary action, records show.

The second citation involved the facility’s failure to ensure two allegations of sexual abuse were investigated. A CNA reportedly asked a resident “to remove their clothes and play a game,” state inspection records state. When the CNA touched the resident’s thigh while they were in bed and “asked to take them to dinner,” the upset and scared resident reported the incident to a social worker. The resident also said they were asked to “take off their clothes and do a dance,” according to records.

State inspectors cited San Simeon for failing to properly investigate and document the incident.

Separately, on Sept. 5, 2024, the state fined San Simeon another $2,000 after inspectors found excessive hot water temperatures reaching nearly 128 degrees. No injuries were reported, but the facility was cited for failing to protect residents from the risk of burns, records show.

Chaim Kushner, the San Simeon administrator, did not return a request for comment.

Established in Greenport in the 1970s, San Simeon is a 120-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility located along County Road 48 on property owned by St. Peter’s Lutheran Church.

The nursing home faced a permanent shutdown due to financial troubles in 2023, sister paper The Suffolk Times previously reported. After years of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing shortages and rising costs, the facility said it would be forced to close in February 2024 if it could not find a partner to sustain operations.

However, the facility continues to operate and is reportedly under new management with an entirely new board of directors, though that information does not appear on its website.

Other area facilities have also been cited and fined in previous years.

The Acadia Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Riverhead has incurred $4,000 in fines over the past six years, with the most recent being a $2,000 citation in February 2023, according to records. A licensed practical nurse did not wear appropriate personal protective equipment while administering medications to a coughing resident with RSV, state health investigators said.

“These citations were related to minor infection control matters and did not have a meaningful impact on patient care or outcomes,” said Daniel Mazzone, an assistant administrator at Acadia, in an emailed statement. “Our commitment to quality is reflected in our CMS 5-Star rating, strong performance on recent health inspections, and five-star quality measures. These indicators demonstrate that Acadia remains one of the leading skilled nursing facilities on the East End, and we are dedicated to continuing to improve our standards of care.”

The Hampton Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton received a $10,000 fine in November 2022 for failing to protect residents from alleged sexual abuse and allowing the offender to remain in the facility, according to records.

Westhampton Care Center was issued a $14,000 fine in January 2022 for multiple violations, including staff not wearing proper PPE around potentially sick residents and a lack of shower care assistance for a resident that resulted in a head injury, records show.

Administrators from both facilities did not respond to the Riverhead News-Review’s request for comment.