State officials say all the residents of Bickford Health Care Center have been relocated and the Windsor Locks facility has closed.
This follows the death of 93-year-old Margaret Healy, a patient who wandered out of the facility undetected on Feb. 8 and later died after exposure to extreme cold temperatures.
The state Department of Social Services on March 10 gave the facility a month to relocate all patients from the 48-bed Windsor Locks nursing home.
Long-term Care Ombudsman Mairead Painter was working with residents and their families to find new placements, and said all the patients were transferred by March 31. Next, the regional ombudsman will be checking how each former resident is doing in their new placements, Painter said in an email.
“Although this was a difficult time for this community, we hope that each resident finds their new home provides them with a good quality of life and quality of care,” Painter added.
The order from DSS came after state public health investigators found Bickford had over a dozen facility violations surrounding the circumstances of Healey's death.
A spokesperson for the Department of Public Health stated, "the nursing home has shut down and to DPH's knowledge, it will not be operating in the future."
The state Office of Chief Medical Examiner said the official cause and manner of Healey’s death is still pending.
