State studies group home hirings

Monday, March 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Tom Stutchman, owner of the 64-bed Westwood Assisted Living Center in Sparks, said background checks would prove too costly for some residential care facilities.

Nevada group-home operators currently aren't required to check employee backgrounds and the state doesn't have the legal authority to conduct its own screening.

The plan to require the background checks surfaced in August after a group-home owner in the Reno area was arrested following a standoff with a Washoe County sheriff's SWAT team.

Kelly Caccamise pleaded guilty to counts of elderly abuse and possession of methamphetamine. Earlier this month, she was sentenced to a two-year drug program and placed on three years probation.

About 40 group-home operators met with state officials in Reno last week to discuss a variety of proposed group-home regulations. The rule changes will be submitted to the state Board of Health for action later this year.

Most operators generally agreed on the need for changes to protect group-home residents.

"Something has to be done or something bad is going to happen and all group homes are going to get a black eye from it, and we recognize that," Stutchman said.

However, he said the background checks wouldn't be economically feasible for residential care facilities that accept older low-income residents on Medicaid.

Wendy V.C. Simons, administrator of the 60-unit Park Place Assisted Living Residences in Reno, said she spends at least $110 per employee on background checks.

If the state requires the background checks, she said, it will need to help operators who accept low-income seniors find a cheaper way to do it.

The state licensure bureau is trying to work out an arrangement with the Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety to conduct the checks, said Sharon Ezell, chief of licensing.

But the arrangement may require the approval of the Legislature, she said.

Another proposed regulation would require group homes to have one employee on duty from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for every 10 residents.

Hiring up to six more people to comply with the regulation would be a "budget breaker" at the Odd Fellows Retirement Manor, said administrator Ron Bradley.