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Register Exclusive: 'Dumped' by care facility, Iowan closer to moving into state veterans home
A disabled Navy veteran who was evicted from an Iowa nursing home and dropped off at an unfurnished apartment with no food, medication or phone is one step closer to moving into the Iowa Veterans Home.
Last November, 65-year-old John Chedester was suffering from a life-threatening blood infection, congestive heart failure, insulin-dependent diabetes and other ailments when the Onawa nursing home he resided in evicted him for nonpayment of services. The nursing home, Elmwood Care Centre, dropped him off, alone, at an apartment building in Mapleton.
The next day, after a neighbor and the county sheriff's office intervened, Chedester was rushed by ambulance to a hospital where was treated for pneumonia, sepsis, anxiety and an uncontrolled heart rate. Police and EMTs say Chedester most likely wouldn't have survived another day in the apartment.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Ailing vet 'dumped' by Onawa care site
"He was, for all practical purposes, dumped by the care facility into a vacant apartment," David Werning, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, told the Des Moines Register last month.
After a 10-day stay in the hospital, Chedester was readmitted to the Elmwood Care Centre. The home was fined $5,752 for failing to properly discharge a resident. In January, Chedester told the Register he wants to reside at the state-run Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown.
"It seems like I'd have more in common with the people there," he said. "I don't really have anyone to talk to here."
Shortly after the Register reported on Chedester's situation, the Iowa Long Term Care Ombudsman's Office and the Monona County Veterans Affairs Office began working on a transfer.
Iowa Long Term Care Ombudsman Deanna Clingan-Fischer said this week that Chedester remains at Elmwood, but his application to be admitted to the veterans' home has been turned in.
Monona County Veterans Affairs Director Kelly Hansen said he expects Chedester to meet with representatives of the Iowa Veterans Home tomorrow.
"I think this meeting is one of the last steps in the admissions process," he said.
The commandant of the Iowa Veterans Home, Jodi Tymeson said the facility does have beds available and processes all applications for admission in a timely manner.
"I certainly can't provide you with any information on Mr. Chedester," she added.
The Elmwood staff had arranged for Chedester's placement in the Mapleton apartment building and offered to transport furniture from his house, but he allegedly declined the offer. Chedester, who has trouble with some of his decision-making skills, also refused home health services, his medications and the bottled oxygen he often relied upon to help him breathe.
It's not clear why Chedester's caseworker at the Iowa Department of Human Services didn't intervene to prevent him from being discharged to an unfurnished apartment. DHS spokesman Amy McCoy said the agency cannot discuss its handling of any specific case.
No criminal charges were filed in the case. Although the denial of critical care is a form of criminal dependent-adult abuse in Iowa, that law is rarely enforced.
Elmwood Care Centre failed to comply with the law that requires the ombudsman's office to be informed of all involuntary discharges. The home also failed to tell Chedester that he could contact the ombudsman's office if he objected to the discharge. State records show the home was not cited by state inspectors for either of those violations.
The Elmwood Care Centre is owned by Aviv, a large real estate investment trust that owns more than 260 nursing homes, including seven in Iowa.