After an alarming incident this week, questions are being raised about the quality of the assisted living facilities that Portage Manor residents are moving to because St. Joseph County commissioners are closing their home.
Commissioner President Carl Baxmeyer said that at Miller Beach Terrace, a motel-turned-assisted living facility in Gary, a resident there shot another resident on Wednesday. On Thursday, a Miller Beach Terrace maintenance worker came to Portage Manor and picked up three residents to move them.
While there, the man told Portage Manor staff about the shooting. Portage Manor quickly called Miller Beach Terrace staff, who confirmed the shooting, which caused injuries that weren’t life-threatening.
The maintenance worker had left with the residents before Portage Manor staff could run out and stop them, Baxmeyer said.
“The victim was not seriously injured but that doesn’t matter,” Baxmeyer said. “You’ve got a facility for care for people that have mental challenges and somebody, a resident, has a gun in there? Come on.”
Commissioners Baxmeyer he and Derek Dieter voted June 6 to close Portage Manor by July 31 because it’s been losing money in recent years and they say it needs building upgrades that the county can’t afford. The residents’ family members have pleaded with commissioners at their meetings not to close the home. They’ve asked that residents at least be kept together in a new facility in the South Bend area since so many of them, who have mental illness or disabilities, regard each other and Portage Manor staff as family.
Four residents this week filed a federal lawsuit to keep Portage Manor open. The defendants are the county, along with Baxmeyer and County Council President Mark Root in their official capacities.
Jenny Piontek, an advocate and board member for Friends of Portage Manor, said she wasn’t surprised to hear about the shooting after what she saw at Miller Beach Terrace last week when she toured it with some family members of Portage Manor residents.
“The current staff is doing some painting but the chairs that they have, that they’re using, are ripped,” Piontek said. “The carpeting has cigarette stains. It’s old. It’s like cement underneath the carpeting. The windows are covered in like calcium deposits. It’s hard to see out of the windows. It’s gross. I mean, I know the people working there love what they do and they love helping this population, but there aren’t many residents I know that I would feel comfortable putting there.”
Before that, Piontek toured Lake Park, another facility in nearby Lake Station that commissioners have said is receiving some Portage Manor residents. It wasn’t in much better condition than Miller Beach Terrace, she said.
“You know, I think the commissioners and the council members, before promising to send these residents somewhere that is suitable and safe, they should have gone and looked at these places before they made the decision to close. Because Portage Manor is like something you would find in Beverly Hills compared to some of these places. It’s appalling.”
But Baxmeyer said it’s not his responsibility to vet these facilities, even though his actions have driven people there.
“We have to rely on the fact that these are state-approved facilities,” he said. “And they have to meet standards that the state sets to be licensed. It’s an unfortunate situation, obviously.”
That rationale didn’t sit well with Piontek.
“That is sickening,” she said. “It really is. They’re saying … he’s pushing the blame, he’s transferring the blame onto somebody else.”
County Council Member Mark Catanzarite, who co-chaired a task force that recommended that the county keep ownership of Portage Manor but contract with another entity to operate it, also didn’t seem surprised to hear about the shooting.
“To me, again, it screams as to why we should have taken our time with this process,” said Catanzarite, noting that commissioners chose the July 31 closure date. “I think with rushing the process, unfortunately we’re putting some of these residents of Portage Manor in maybe a situation that’s a lot worse than the situation then what they had at Portage Manor.
“And I don’t think the situation at Portage Manor was bad at all. All the claims of safety issues and concerns about safety of the building, I really think were unfounded, when you compare it to what you’re seeing at other facilities. What everybody who has ever toured Portage Manor or been around it, either family or friends, have said it’s just a wonderful facility.”
