Three seniors removed from unlicensed home

Cathy Scott

Friday, May 15, 1998 | 2:27 a.m.

Three senior citizens were removed from an unlicensed adult group home Thursday after Metro Police received a complaint that it was housing too many elderly people.

Metro detectives, accompanied by Clark County business investigators, arrived unannounced at Dee's Adult Care, which also is known as Unique Care, 4545 Euclid Ave., near Harmon and Eastern avenues.

The home was registered but unlicensed as a state group home, Sandie Durgin, supervisor of Metro's Abuse and Neglect Unit, said. Only two people are allowed to live in a registered home, she said.

Group homes are not the same as licensed care facilities, Durgin said.

"There's a difference," she said. "What's happening in this industry is operators are confusing board-and-care customers with clients who need care. They're unfortunately blending the two. We brought this home down to what the owner is allowed to have as a registered home."

The three patients who were removed were placed in three different care facilities, Durgin said. One of the adults was an Alzheimer's patient, she said. The owner of the home received a written warning from Clark County and the case will be referred to the state Bureau of Health, Durgin said.

"We're letting the bureau know that we found the owner in noncompliance and in violation," Durgin said. "She will have to apply to them for a license."

The Legislature in 1995 passed a law that makes it legal for citizens to operate an unlicensed home for no more than two adults by simply registering with the county, Durgin said.

"I'm sure that in good faith the legislators came up with registered homes," she said, "but, in fact, they're become a registered nightmare. Families assume that someone is checking and regulating the homes and in fact there is no regulation. Families need to know that. There are no requirements except to register."

For licensed homes, there are safety and fire standards that owners must live up to, Durgin said. But there are no requirements by the owners for a registered home "except to register," she said.

Durgin said there are 300 unlicensed group homes operating in the Las Vegas Valley. The fees to live in those homes vary, she said.