Lynwood Care Center

Giant nursing home chain operator Beverly Enterprises is closing a large facility for the retarded in Lynwood after receiving critical inspection reports citing substandard living conditions, lack of staffing and failure to provide proper care and treatment of clients.

The article by John Hurst "Home for Retarded, Disabled to Close" (Metro, Feb. 5) did not completely depict the situation at Lynwood Care Center or at any large intermediate-care facility for the developmentally disabled operating in California. During the last two years there has been a concerted effort by the California Department of Developmental Services to depopulate the larger homes serving the developmentally disabled and move these clients into a more home-like environment, specifically 6-15 bed homes.

The article by John Hurst "Home for Retarded, Disabled to Close" (Metro, Feb. 5) did not completely depict the situation at Lynwood Care Center or at any large intermediate-care facility for the developmentally disabled operating in California. During the last two years there has been a concerted effort by the California Department of Developmental Services to depopulate the larger homes serving the developmentally disabled and move these clients into a more home-like environment, specifically 6-15 bed homes.

Giant nursing home chain operator Beverly Enterprises is closing a large facility for the retarded in Lynwood after receiving critical inspection reports citing substandard living conditions, lack of staffing and failure to provide proper care and treatment of clients.

Sheresa lay on the floor and stretched her arms toward the sunlight that lit up the frosted glass window at the end of the hallway. She is a small, childlike figure, who, at 22, has the mind of an infant. She speaks only an occasional word and walks with difficulty. Still, she could see the sunlit window at the end of the hallway and cried to go outside. She was left lying on the hallway floor for about two hours that morning, resisting an occasional attempt to move her.

On the surface, the nursing home seemed pleasant enough. The lawns were carefully trimmed, and the floors were polished to a high gloss. But beneath the surface, the Oak Meadows Nursing Center in the San Jose suburb of Los Gatos festered with health care problems. Three years ago, state health inspectors charged that the home's negligence contributed to the deaths of four patients, one of whom died after "crater-like . . . foul-smelling" bedsores poisoned her blood.