Gabriel House fire victims may face second relocations as 30-day stays end
Residents forced out of the Gabriel House by a deadly fire this month may soon again be uprooted to another long-term care facility.
The several dozen residents, many of whom have physical disabilities, are on a 30-day timeline to evaluate their relocation status, according to Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan.
In the week following the fire — which broke out July 13 and killed 10 people — surviving Gabriel House residents were placed in long-term care facilities and nursing homes throughout Fall River and surrounding areas.
The residents are allowed to stay free of charge at their current facilities for 30 days, starting from the day they were placed, the mayor said. During that time, staff will assess whether each person “can stay where they are,” given their individual medical and personal needs — especially as people in assisted living may not need the level of care at skilled nursing facilities.
“If not, we’ll transfer them to another place ... no one’s getting thrown to the street,” Coogan said. The mayor’s office has most recently been in conversation with a long-term care facility in Attleboro, he said, and agencies like the Red Cross.
But some survivors like Alvaro Vieira, a 64-year-old resident hospitalized with smoke inhalation and glass fragments in his face from a firefighter rescuing him through a window, say they’re still unsure what’s coming next.
Vieira was placed into the Royal Fairhaven Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home by the shore in Fairhaven. His son, Chris, said the family hopes their dad — who had a stroke in his 40s that left half of his body paralyzed — will be placed in a New Bedford facility because it’s close to home, and that Attleboro would be too far away.
Alvaro Vieira’s cough from the smoke over the past few weeks has subsided, his son said, but he still does not have several important personal belongings such as his dentures, hearing aid and wallet.
In his first — and only public statement — from Gabriel House owner Dennis Etzkorn on the incident, he promised to establish “a system to help these families recover their loved ones’ possessions,” and that all personal belongings would be returned by the end of this week.
Etzkorn had been at the facility on Monday, Coogan said, and would return again Friday for such as dentures, eyeglasses, birth certificates, lock boxes and other medical items. The mayor’s office is handling the list of items in conjunction with the American Red Cross.
But without his dentures over the past two and a half weeks, Vieira has not been able to eat properly, only consuming “ground food” since arriving at the Royal Fairhaven, his son said.
The 64-year-old is not aware of any other Gabriel House residents at the nursing home with him, and has received numerous clothing donations along with a gift card. The Vieira family also has questions around the monthly rent of $1,300 their father paid to the Gabriel House and whether there will be reimbursements.
A statement provided to MassLive from Etzkorn on Wednesday reiterated that he would not be speaking to the media on the incident or allegations of poor living conditions.
“ ... this is not a time to talk about myself. My sole concerns, and all that matters right now, are helping investigators determine all the facts and circumstances of this tragedy, and helping our residents’ loved ones in this unbearable time of immense grief,” Etzkorn stated.
He again said that, regarding Gabriel House’s troubled compliance history , “our facility has been inspected by local and state authorities, as well as the sprinkler system vendor, and found to be consistently in compliance with regulations, with rare exceptions that were promptly addressed.”
However, records from the Executive Office of Aging and Independence — then called the Executive Office of Elder Affairs — show a January 2016 incident of “resident mistreatment” prompted the state to temporarily suspend Gabriel House’s assisted living certification.
The facility was allowed to continue operating, but could not enroll any new residents until the suspension was lifted.
Gabriel House was required to submit a corrective action plan within 30 days or risk complete revocation of its assisted living certification. The state lifted the suspension on Nov. 14, 2016 — citing “evidence” of compliance with requested actions — and the facility resumed accepting new residents.
The facility also received a suspension in 2010, according to the Boston Globe , although the reasons were not clear in state documents. After meeting the state’s requirements, Gabriel House was recertified by October 2011.
In the aftermath of the fire, conditions in the assisted living home and its management have come under scrutiny. State and city records — such as compliance reports, corrective actions and submitted complaints — show concerns dating back a decade-plus and include prolonged elevator outages, cockroaches, rodents and an absence of emergency and evacuation planning.
Deadly Gabriel House fire
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