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By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@leader.net
Tuesday, March 18, 2003 Page: 3A
-andes
Valley Crest employee accused of improperly lifting patient at the
facilityPLAINS TWP. – A Valley Crest Nursing Home employee was docked three
days’ pay and demoted for the way he lifted a patient.
The employee, Timothy Melan, will work as a dietary aide instead of a
certified nursing assistant.
County Personnel/Budget Director Russ Arnone said in a memo to county
officials that he held a hearing in his office concerning allegations of abuse
by Melan.
“It is apparent from the testimony presented by all parties present that
the employee lifted the patient in a manner contrary to the accepted and
prescribed method for which the employee has been trained,” the memo said.
Arnone recommended Melan get a three-day suspension without pay and be
transferred “to an ancillary department where there may be a vacancy and
where he will have no direct contact with patients.”
Minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said he believes Melan should be
terminated because the hearing dealt with abuse allegations.
“These workers are there to love and care for the patients,” Urban said.
Job switches traditionally are approved by the county Board of
Commissioners. It was not clear Monday if this one will be on the agenda at
the next commissioners’ meeting, 10 a.m. tomorrow.
Jim Miller, administrator of the county-owned home, said Melan’s
$31,654-a-year salary will be reduced by at least $1 per hour – maybe more –
as a dietary aide.
The union contract requires Melan to be paid the same as other dietary
aides who have worked at the home as long as Melan, Miller said. He wouldn’t
estimate what that amount will be, other than to say it will be under $30,000.
County officials said they aren’t funding or filling any vacancies because
of the county’s money problems. Miller said there is a vacant dietary aide job
on the books that should be filled.
“It’s an extremely busy department,” Miller said.
The state will decide whether Melan will lose his nursing assistant
certification, Miller said. Miller would not describe how Melan lifted the
patient, saying it was a personnel issue.
State Department of Health spokesman Richard McGarvey said Valley Crest
officials reported the incident. He agreed to check the home’s records to see
if he could provide more details about what information was provided to the
state, but he did not call back Monday afternoon.
Melan is the second Valley Crest employee within a year to be reprimanded
and transferred.
Commissioners in March 2002 voted to move then-resident advocate David
Williams into a new supervisor job in Arnone’s department for $28,000 a year –
an $8,200 pay cut.
Former Valley Crest Administrator Linda Kanarr twice recommended Williams’
termination, largely because Williams signed a consent agreement to remove
part of a patient’s foot without first contacting the patient’s family as
required.
Kanarr issued the termination recommendation in September, but majority
commissioners continued paying Williams his full resident advocate pay and
benefits for more than six months without acting.
Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at
831-7333.
PULL QUOTE: “It is apparent from the testimony presented by all parties
present that the employee lifted the patient in a manner contrary to the
accepted and prescribed method for which the employee has been trained.”
County Personnel/Budget Director Russ Arnone
Stated in a memo to county officials