Only on 12: Missing woman buried; investigation into personal care home continues

Updated: 11:25 AM Jul 10, 2009

It's been one week since an Augusta Alzheimer's patient walked away from her personal care home. Her body was found three days later in some woods. Elizabeth Bert's death has raised questions from the state and now the home where she lived is under the microscope.

Posted: 6:27 PM Jul 9, 2009
Reporter: Katie Beasley
Email Address: katie.beasley@wrdw.com

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News 12 at 6 o'clock, July 9, 2009

AUGUSTA, Ga.---It's been one week since an Augusta Alzheimer's patient walked away from her personal care home. Her body was found three days later in some woods.

Family, friends and some of the people who searched for 85-year old Elizabeth Bert helped lay her to rest today.

Bert's death has raised questions from the state and now the home where she lived is under the microscope.

Elizabeth Bert had lived at the House of Life personal care home for a year and a half. It is just one of more than 130 care homes in Richmond County. Her death has prompted a state investigation into what went wrong.

It's been seven long days for the family of Elizabeth Bert. H er body was found Sunday, nearly four days after she left the House of Life personal care home.

According to the Department of Community Health, there are 131 personal care homes in Richmond County. Over half of them (82) have at least one violation. Some are minor but others are more serious.

"Well whatever comes with the job, you have to make sure you're going to do that. You have to make sure you're willing to go to class and willing to do that. Whatever the job takes. And that way you can ward off the violations," says Frances Perrin, the owner of The Blossom personal care home.

Frances' personal care home, The Blossom, has had no violations since opening early this year.

The House of Life home was cited in March of 2008 for not having workers trained and certified to administer insulin to diabetic residents, like Elizabeth Bert. By this time, the home had been licensed for almost two years.

"I hope that we all as personal care owners will really get to be more professional about it that we can ward off these violations," says Frances.

The Department of Community Health says personal care homes are inspected before getting a license, six months after getting the license, and then about every eighteen months.

For Frances, those inspections are a way to insure patient safety. "I treat them as though I want to be treated or the way my parents would like to be treated. So I take it personal. I can't say how they feel about their job but I take mine serious," says Frances.

On Wednesday News 12 told you about a complaint filed with the Richmond County Public Health against the House of Life -- alleging raw sewage and an improperly maintained pool on the property.

They say both issues have been looked into. The pool was deemed a public health issue but they say when they got to the home the sewage had been taken care of.

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