Concerns Persist Around The Wicomico County Nursing Home

WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. — Tensions are rising over the future of the Wicomico County Nursing Home, with emergency legislation on the table that has county officials at odds.

Concerns persist around the Wicomico County Nursing Home. Tuesday, leaders tried to find solutions during a Wicomico County Council meeting but were met with a wave of public comments scrutinizing claims about the vetting process for current facility director Tina Fosky.

During public comment, Jim Adkins said, “The deputy director of administration stated in response it had been vetted and approved by the county council this fall. You’d already been hired at that point. There was no vetting. There was no approval.”

County Executive Julie Giordano says Fosky was hired April 9, but a closed County Council session to meet the candidate was not held until April 21. Councilmember David Ennis said he did not understand the purpose of the meeting at the time.

“We did ask some 20 questions, especially regarding the past, this person’s past employment history. But the fact of the matter is, it didn’t matter. She was already hired. Just to be clear,” Ennis said.

Councilmember Shanie Shields raised similar questions about Fosky’s employment history.

“She worked 10 — had 10 jobs before she even — eight years at 10 jobs,” Shields said. “Tell me about this woman. She had destroyed … and I blame the administration. She is destroying the nursing home.”

But supporters of Fosky’s leadership say there were issues at the facility before she was hired.

Assistant Director of Administration Steve Lakin claims the home had been cited by the state of Maryland for nursing care deficiencies 20 times in the 15 months before Fosky came on board.

“When Tina shines a light on these deficiencies, rather than applaud her, this council sides with the disgruntled employees, insists she’s the problem and is pursuing legislation to terminate her,” Lakin said.

During the meeting, Lakin held up what he described as employee logs and citations. He claimed nursing care at the home has not declined.

“Resident nursing care is not declining, and there has been no reduction of staff since the new administrator took office in April,” Lakin said. “Since Jan. 1, staff levels have remained constant and are consistent with staff levels before April 1. I can’t deny the facts, and they’re also in accordance with Maryland law. Staffing is also above the minimum state requirements.”

Lakin also shared a ledger that he said showed past-due amounts.

“I have here a ledger which shows — the ledger is dated Aug. 29 — that shows the past-due amounts. There are past-due amounts that are 210 days or more, totaling almost $800,000. We will never see that money, and then what we can conceivably collect is maybe 60 days or less, which is less than $1 million. So we have lost out on a tremendous amount of money,” Lakin said.

“Four of you were past or present business owners, and what alternative universe would you allow or turn a blind eye to this level of financial mismanagement? I’d be willing to bet a dollar with any of you what you uncovered.”

Meanwhile, Council President John Cannon is calling on Giordano’s administration to provide the council with the nursing home citations and ledgers.

“What really concerns me is that we haven’t seen any of these papers. We’re still, I think, as a councilman has suggested, we’re still on a need-to-know basis only,” Cannon said. “We’re going to move forward with this and get this done. We’re going to do as much legislation because, as I said before, when you’re dealing with the elderly and you can have an emergency overnight and it can be a matter of life or death. So we need to make sure we address this to help those patients and also to help not encumber Wicomico County with any liability.”

He added, “Well, I know that if I had just lost 14 key employees within the last three-week period, as a business owner, I would be extremely concerned.

Council members reiterated their support for emergency legislation that, if passed, would establish regulations and operational oversight at the nursing home.

The legislation is scheduled for a vote Sept. 15.