Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
A little more than a month after the license of a Cross Landings nursing home administrator was suspended for behavior that the state characterized as 'negligent and incompetent', the individual appears to be back on the job.
After several inquiries from the Monticello News, the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) last week confirmed via email the reinstatement of Sebrina Cameron' license.
“Thank you for reaching out to the Florida Department of Health with your question regarding the license of Sebrina Cameron,” stated the cryptic email from the FDOH communications staff on Thursday, May 28.
“Ms. Cameron’s suspension was stayed by the First District Courts of Appeals (DCA), so she is currently eligible to practice.”
The FDOH offered no other information. A followup email from the News requesting the date of the reinstatement, a copy of the DCA ruling or the DCA case number went unanswered. Meanwhile, searches of the archived cases of the DCA on its website for the last two months yielded no results relative to Cameron.
The News became aware of Cameron's possible restatement after receiving a copy of a letter that she addressed to the residents and family members of the Crosswinds Care Center in Greenville, Fla.
The letter – dated Monday, May 25, and identifying Cameron as the nursing home administrator – sought to assure its recipients that the care center was taking seriously the threat of COVID-19 (the disease caused by the coronavirus) and taking steps to reduce the chances of infections at the facility.
“Our center is following the recommendations of the CDC on prevention steps, including following strict hand-washing procedures, N95 masks and wearing gloves when interacting with residents,” the letter stated.
It went on to say that staff was keeping up-to-date with the CDC recommendations and staying in close contact with the local and state health departments and “following their guidance.”
Several calls to the Crosswinds Care Center on Friday, May 29, to confirm Cameron's reinstatement and afford her an opportunity to comment, produced no results. The receptionist said that Joyce Plourde, not Cameron, was the facilty's administrator. When asked if Cameron was on the premises in any capacity, the receptionist put the line on hold to go check and then the line got disconnected. Repeated callbacks to the facility went unanswered.
When this reporter switched to cellphone with a different number, the receptionist picked up. When the reporter asked if Plourde was available to speak, the receptionist responded that Plourde was in a meeting. Asked if Plourde was then physically on the premises, the line got disconnected again.
The reason for the latter question is that according to a news story in the Miami Herald in April, Plourde is a Florida-licensed nursing home administrator and Broward County resident who owns Cross Landings Golden LLC, which owns the facilities in Madison and Jefferson counties, as well as others places.
Subsequently, staff from the local health department confirmed that Cameron was at the Greenville facility but identifying herself as a social service director, although it appeared that she was pretty much calling the shots.
State Surgeon General Scott Rivkees suspended the administrator licenses of Cameron and Mark Daniels by separate emergency orders that he issued on April 17. At the time, Daniels was the administrator of the Cross Landings Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in Monticello, and Cameron was the regional nursing home administrator over him, as well as the administrator at the Greenville facility.
The two 22-page orders resulted from what the state called a systematic failure of the Cross Landings to follow the proper protocols and implement the required safety measure to slow the spread of the COVID-19. A highly contagious illness, COVID-19 spreads through respiratory transmission and has significant morbidity and mortality rates, particularly among individuals who are 65 or older and those with chronic medical conditions.
Per the suspension order, the FDOH, as part of the state's emergency response to the pandemic, facilitated medical personnel visiting the various nursing homes across the state that had positive COVID-19 cases in order to assist in the evaluation of the infection control procedures, the testing of additional residents and the education of the staff on how to control the spread of the disease.
In brief, the team of four registered nurses that the FDOH sent to evaluate the situation at Cross Landings made eight visits between April 9 and April 13 and spent between eight and 12 hours daily at the facility each time, working closely with the staff and residents, according to the order.
“During their time at Cross Landings, the team members observed that there was a systematic failure in the planning and implementation of safety measures designed to prevent further spread of COVID-19 to the other residents of Cross Landings,” the order read.
“Moreover,” the order continued, “Mr. Daniels and Ms. Cameron willfully resisted the team's recommendations and obstructed their attempts to ensure the safety of the residents at Cross Landings.”
Per the order, Daniels and Cameron often refused to participate in the team's daily briefings, or “were otherwise dismissive of the team's recommendations.”
The team of four registered nurses documented during their several visits repeated failures and omissions on the part of the staff and administrators that, in the team's estimation, put the center's residents at risk. The team additionally reported that its attempts to educate the staff on the proper screening procedures were often met with resistance from Daniels, Cameron and the staff, according to the order.
The many documented failures and omissions included the staff not wearing personal protective equipment, not washing or sanitizing hands, not wearing masks or wearing them incorrectly, allowing the intermingling of infected and non-infected residents, and the administration not distributing N95 respirators that were available onsite.
Between April 5 and April 17 when the suspension order was issued, 12 residents at the facility tested positive for COVID-19, of which three have since died.
In its conclusion, the suspension order found that Daniels and Cameron had violated various state statues and administrative rules and deemed the twos' failure to ensure for the safety of the facility's residents unacceptable.
It further found that the two administrators' “antagonistic relationship” with the team members sent to assist them, and the twos “repeated failures to enact or enforce reasonable safety measures were more than mere mistakes, but rose to the level of negligence and incompetence.”