'Inadequate emergency management' put group home residents at risk at outset of pandemic, state audit says

A new audit announced Thursday by the state comptroller found that "inadequate emergency management coordination" by the state Office for People With Developmental Disabilities left residents of group homes "at risk" during the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said the audit found the office did not provide consistent guidance to the more than 6,900 group homes across New York, almost all of them run by nonprofits, during the first wave of the pandemic, and said that while the agency considered pandemics "a risk" even before the pandemic hit it did not take steps to ensure group homes had plans in place to deal with such an outbreak. The lack of what the comptroller's office called "effective emergency response plans" meant many facilities had difficulties in securing personal protective equipment, as well as issues related to staff shortages and "confusion and delays" over how to isolate or quarantine individuals.

Erin Silk, a spokesperson for the office, said, “During a global pandemic, OPWDD implemented best practice across facilities to minimize infections and satisfy state quarantine and isolation guidance, while keeping those residents in group homes safe and connected with loved ones. While the ever-changing nature of the public health emergency demanded agility in implementing New York State Department of Health and CDC guidance, OPWDD is proud of the efforts that were made to sustain continuity of services while ensuring health and safety during this unprecedented, worldwide event.”

The office reported 657 people in residential programs died from COVID-19 between March 2020 and April 2022, while more than 13,000 contracted the virus, DiNapoli said.

“Group homes are supposed to offer people with developmental disabilities safe places to live as independently as possible,” DiNapoli said in a statement Thursday, adding: “Our audit found the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities did not issue timely, consistent guidance to the vast majority of their certified group homes. Inconsistent emergency management coordination and oversight put residents, families and staff in harm’s way.”

The audit pertained to 6,929 facilities across the state, 6,921 run by nonprofits and eight state-run. The audit stressed that while the office developed guidance prior to the pandemic, then developed "additional guidance" on emergency procedures between September 2020 and November 2021, it restricted distribution of those guidelines to the eight state-run facilities — despite the fact 99% of the state's 34,117 group home residents lived in the non-profit facilities.

A significant issue plaguing group homes was that the office's stockpile of PPE was "exhausted early in the pandemic," which became an even greater factor because group homes "had trouble getting masks and gowns on their own" due to the "overwhelming demand" for PPE, the audit found. 

In a news release announcing the audit Thursday, the comptroller's office said: "Masks were crucial to stopping the spread of COVID-19 and especially important in group home settings, where clients often have multiple medical issues and staff typically cannot socially distance when helping individuals with bathing, dressing or eating. Staff at three of 16 group homes visited said they had to resort to reusing face masks and gowns at early stages of the pandemic."

Equipment shortages, staff shortages due to "increased physical and emotional fatigue, mental distress, and contracting COVID-19" led to the closure or temporary closure of 81 group homes between March 2020 and November 2021, the audit found. The audit also found that while the office recertifies group homes every three years "their oversight needs improvement."

But the comptroller's office said that while the developmental disabilities office "expressed concern" with the methodology used in the audit, it agreed with many of the recommendations made in it.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”