On the August 31st edition of OPEN AGENDA (S3 E47), we bring you exclusive video coverage of a counter-press conference that was held at the Wicomico Nursing Home last Thursday. This grass roots event was organized to dispute county executive Julie Giordano's version of the nursing home crisis, which she presented during her own press conference earlier that morning. Notably, at the end of her press conference, Ms. Giordano rejected questions and challenges to her narrative. The counter-press conference was a bi-partisan event attended by a variety of stakeholders concerned about the work environment and quality of patient care following Ms. Giordano's recent appointment of a new director. Notable participants included Republican state senator Johnny Mautz, state delegate Sheree Sample-Hughes, Republican county councilman Jeff Merritt, and former county councilman Ernie Davis, among other community leaders. Curiously, after the the rally began county executive Giordano showed up with her senior administrators, Bunky Luffman and Steve Lakin. Conspicuously positioned front and center, they proceeded to continuously scan the crowd with their cell phone cameras. But when participants questioned Mr. Lakin about why it took all three of the county's top bosses to monitor and record every face in the crowd, their inquiries were strangely met with complete silence and a blank stare, as if he could neither hear nor speak. We can only guess why participants were being recorded so carefully, and why Mr. Lakin exhibited such odd behavior. In the absence of answers from the administration to this and many other questions, we are all left to draw our own conclusions.
S3 E47 Counter Press Conference to Dispute County Executive
Show Transcript
Disclaimer: The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain spelling or contextual errors.
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>> Good morning and certainly greetings to
all of you who are present today as we
>> [clears throat]
>> have come together as one team, one
unit, one body of community to stand
against any privatization that should
possibly take place against this
beautiful facility that has been here
for many years, namely the Wyckoff
Heights Medical Nursing Home. My name is
Lewis Watson and I stand as president of
the Wyckoff Heights One Voice along with
the Caucus of American Leaders and the
NAACP among other concerned citizens of
Wyckoff Heights Medical County and the
surrounding areas.
We're here today to voice our concern as
we are concerned about the workers who
have been terminated unfairly, unjustly
from this nursing facility. Workers who
have given of their service and their
time and their effort for many years to
ensure that the level of care given to
these residents was second to none.
Over the years they have done this.
They've proven themselves to be faithful
and committed to the service as these
residents deserve. We know as we get
older we become more vulnerable because
life has a way of taking a turn in our
lives and while they have given of their
service and have come to a point in
their life where they need someone to
give service to them only to have people
removed from their lives that they have
been accustomed to serving them with
care and love and concern is certainly
unfair. There's certainly something
nefarious about anyone who would come in
and remove people who have served so
faithfully without cause. And so we
stand today as a concerned body
community to fight against what has
taken place and to ensure that our
residents at the Carmichael Nursing Home
are given the best of care. They deserve
the best of care. It has been given to
them over the years and we will not stop
until those persons have been returned
back to their employment if they so
desire to be returned and to find out
why. We want to know why this took place
in the first place. I see a sign uh
across the street that says now hiring,
which I don't understand why they would
have to hire when they had people in
place in the beginning.
And so for them to remove people who
have uh who have been uh qualified, they
have been trained,
uh they have become like family to these
residents and to remove them is just so
unjust and so wicked. Anyone who has
been in this community for a number of
years, namely the 50-plus years, have
known of someone who has been in this
nursing facility, who have had to have
care at one time or another. And to see
this level of care decline since April
to where it is today is just
unacceptable.
So having said that and to that end, I'm
going to ask Ms. Sinclair to come and
she's going to speak uh on behalf of Phi
Delta Kappa, uh which is the sorority uh
among other teachers back in the day in
the '60s that initiated this nursing
facility to ensure that proper care was
given to those who could not any longer
care for themselves. Ms. Agatha Pope, uh
some of you may have known her, uh some
of you may have heard of her, was one of
the primary persons to initiate this
project, this concern, this program
because our father needed some place to
be cared for. And so, she's a part of
this sorority, and so we're going to ask
if she would come at this time and share
her concerns and insight as to how she
feels and what she would like to share
with the community. Can we celebrate her
as she comes at this time?
>> Thank you, Pastor Watson. For those of
you, as Pastor Watson has stated, all of
you parents may have known Agatha Polk.
If you enter the nursing home, on the
wall, there's a photo of the national
sorority
of Phi Delta Kappa Beta Tau chapter,
which is a local chapter here on the
Eastern Shore. We're known nationwide,
an organization of educators.
Mrs. Agatha wanted to care for her
father. And at that time, the Caucasian
nursing home were not accepting black
patients. She
was concerned about her father.
And what she did, she pulled together
the sorority of women that is currently
hanging on the photo in the nursing
home. And in 1961,
they raised $500. Now, for those of you
that know, back then, that was a lot of
money.
In 1961, they became incorporated.
And in 1965,
they started construction on the
Wicomico County Nursing Home. It wasn't
until 1972 that the county took over.
And during that time, we have supported
our organization has supported the
Wicomico Nursing Home. And I can tell
you, our last living member, Cleo
Wolford,
spent her last days
in the facility behind me. I visit my
friend, my sister,
and my soror,
and I was pleased with the service from
the nurses,
from those that were taking care of not
only Cleo Wallston, but other
residents in Wicomico County Nursing
Home.
What has happened? I have no idea. But I
can truly say that while the years that
my sorority, and we will continue
under Wicomico County Nursing Home,
continue to support those residents that
are now a home to those that cannot take
care of themselves.
And I want to say to those workers, I
apologize
for those of you that were misplaced.
Because I know for a fact the years that
I visited the nursing home along with
Cleo Wallston and other sorority
members, we were very pleased with the
administration and with the staff.
>> Thank you so, so very much, Sister
Sinclair.
Sister Sheri Sample, one of our
delegates, is here and we're going to
ask her to come. Can we celebrate her as
she comes to the podium?
>> Thank you, Pastor. Good morning,
everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you. I thank you for your presence. I
thank you for your prayers. I thank you
for your time. I bring you greetings
from Maryland General Assembly, the
House of Delegates, along with my
colleagues and another mouse.
Um,
this
The Wicomico Nursing Home is more than a
facility. It's a home. And I can stand
here and say that because my grandmother
was here for many years and my mother is
here now. So, I'm here on not only a
professional but a personal level of
knowing that
the time is quite different now under
this new administration.
When you hear and see the amount of
anxiousness from the employees
and the and the patients now have the
mindset, "Where is my Where is my aid?
Where is that director assistant
director of nursing? Where are the
people that I'm familiar with on a
day-to-day basis that just stops by and
helps out when they need to?" You have
administrators
at the director level coming in and help
changing the depends if they need to.
We have the van driver, not just driving
a van. She's out making sure meal carts
are getting done. These people put their
heart and soul in it. And I'm not going
to belabor the point cuz we have many
speakers. But, what I will say is this.
This year I was able to sponsor House
Bill 945.
And in my capacity as a legislator, I
was fighting tooth and nail for that
bill. Y'all know me well, I'm going to
fight.
And I fought for it because it deals
deals with nursing homes and assisted
living facilities.
In 2023 to 2025, we had over 9,000
complaints in our nursing homes and in
our assisted living facilities. That
should not be. The number is dwindling
now, but we still needed a level of
oversight. So, House Bill 945 and and
you can't pass a piece of legislation by
one house, by the House of Delegates. It
takes the Senate. And I appreciate my
colleague standing here with me today as
he voted for that bill. It ran through
the General Assembly unanimously. Why?
Because we know in this state, we cannot
sit by and idly and say, "Oh, we'll just
take the minimum." I heard that this
week from the investigators here at this
facility from the state saying the
minimum. They're meeting the minimum.
They're meeting the minimum. Well, I'm
sorry. I can't stand by for the minimum
cuz I know that we are better than that.
I know that we can do better by our
people.
There's There's [applause] so many
patients. I walk down the hall. They
might not know my name, but they know
I'm a friendly face and I'll bring the
dog. That's just how I'm just saying
that we try to figure out what we can do
to help people along the way. And if it
takes again additional legislation and
whatever it means to make sure we're not
just a minimum in Wicomico County. This
is the best in this whole minute county.
So like why can't we stay there? But we
can't do it without committed employees.
They can't walk in there and be fearful
of doing their job. They can't be
terrified by statements that are made
from the county administration. They
can't do it. You would be nervous, too.
So I'm going to let that go, but I'm
going to just say this. I thank you for
your time being here today. I'm sure a
state report is going to come out and it
might not look like what we're saying,
but I'm telling you something ain't
right. And we're going to stay for We're
going to stay the course. And again, I
thank you for your time and I will
continue to fight with you fight for you
in Annapolis as my colleague Johnny
Mounce would do the same cuz it takes
all of us together to make it happen.
>> Thank you, Delegate Samuel Hughes.
We We're going to hear from now Mrs.
Delores Peters, one of the staff members
who was unjustly terminated. Would you
come and share with us, Ms. Peters?
Celebrate her as she comes.
>> Yes, girl.
Good morning and thank you for your
time. May the works I've done speak for
me. Yes. It has been said many times
that
it doesn't matter. And thank you for
bringing that back up. The minimum set
is not good enough. It hasn't We've
never worked with the minimum. We have
always given our maximum. And that is
what has brought us to the four star. It
is not until now until after April the
9th that we are now seeing the decrease.
I want to bring your minds back to the
the melting pot.
The frog in the kettle.
>> Yes. That frog has a capacity and
ability to jump out.
It will jump out. But as long as you put
the water in there and it's cool at
first, yes, it's cool right now at
Watcom Nursing Home from what you see.
But what you don't see is that it's now
very hot and people are literally
suffocating. The staff are suffocating.
The staff have even this morning been
told not to have anything to do with
what's going on on the outside while the
outside administration and executives
are standing on the outside. How about
that? What does that sound like to me?
Hypocritical. And that's what is
happening. You're saying one thing and
doing another. This is not political.
This is all about the love, the
dedication, and the care
at Watcom Nursing Home. And to
outsource, as a one sign says, you can't
hold a hand outsourcing.
>> That's right.
>> You said that there's a lot of things
that have been changed that's been
changed without the thought of the
residents and definitely not the staff.
So, please join me on Monday evening at
6:00 at the First Baptist Church.
Uh you will hear more then and the truth
shall set us free.
>> Yes, way to go, sister.
>> Thank you, Mrs. Peters.
And Nikki Nikki Hayes Hayes
Hayes is here. She's a long-time
volunteer. Where is she?
>> I'm right here.
>> All right, come on, baby.
>> [laughter]
>> All right.
>> Go ahead.
Hi, my name is Nikki and I have been
visiting this nursing home for several
years now
and
I don't have any residents in here that
are my legal guardian, parents, or
whatever. They're all my moms, my dads,
my brothers and sisters.
But I come out here and I see the
turmoil that is going on right now. But
these nurses and the and the staff, when
you got 11 people and one aid, that's
not right taking care of those 11
people.
But I'm here to tell you that our
employees are walking on ice, looking
over their shoulder wondering if they're
the next person to be
fired.
You see the pretty on the outside, but
look what's in deep inside. And I thank
you.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Ms. Harris. Earlie Davis,
would you come forward at this time?
>> Good morning.
>> Good morning.
>> My name is Earlie Davis.
I'm a lifelong resident of Wicomico
County.
I grew up in this community surrounding
Wicomico Nursing Home.
And I know many of the residents who
live there.
Because of that personal personal
connection, I feel deeply responsible to
speak up about the quality care and
environment within the facility.
Every resident deserve compassion,
consistent and appropriate care from a
quality staff
who are able to meet their physical,
emotional, and medical needs
with professional and respect.
A nursing home should be a place of
safety,
dignity, and trust
where the best interest of the patient
always come first.
I am also concerned about the staffing
levels
and the working conditions of the
employees at the facility.
Proper patient care depends on having
enough trained
and qualified staff on hand to respond
to residents in a timely and effective
manner.
This is important. No employee should
feel afraid
to raise concerns about patient care,
safety, or workplace conditions because
of the
to of the threat of retaliation.
A culture of fear
weakens care
and damages trust.
Administration should create an
environment
where staff can speak honestly
and where concerns are addressed fairly
lawfully and without punishment.
Leadership must always act
in the best interest of both residents
and employees
and the facility should be managed by a
qualified administrative staff
who have been properly vetted including
through background checks.
I believe the residents of Watcom County
Nursing Home deserve the highest quality
of care
and the staff deserve to work in an
environment that is lawful
respectful and free from fear.
I'm calling on the administration that
is competent, accountable, committed to
well-being of both patients and
employees.
This facility should be reflect should
reflect the values of dignity, safety,
compassion
integrity because the people who live in
there live and work there deserve
nothing but less.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Davis. And as we come to
the close, we want to take this time to
thank the persons who have spoken so
eloquently this afternoon.
Um persons who were part of the founding
of this facility, also uh volunteers,
staff persons, Arlene Davis, Sherice
Applewhaite Hughes, and other elected
officials who are here but have not had
the opportunity to speak. We thank you
for coming. We thank you who are not
elected officials, but you're concerned
citizens. We thank you for coming and
thank you for your support. And we want
to take this opportunity to invite you
to First Baptist Church on Monday the
31st from 6:00 to 8:00 for our town hall
meeting. That is Monday at First Baptist
Church, the 31st of this month, from
6:00 until 8:00 for our town hall
meeting. And I encourage you to share
this information. Invite everyone that
you know. This is critical. This has
happened [clears throat] before, it was
stopped then, it can be stopped now. As
Teresa Humphrey Hughes has so said so
beautifully, this is one of the best
nursing homes we have here. And there's
no reason for us to be in this position.
There's no reason for anyone to have
been terminated, misplaced. There's no
reason for these residents to have be
going through what they're going through
right now, looking for persons that
they're accustomed to seeing and having
their level of clarity care to go on a
decline. So again, we thank you. We hope
to see you Monday, the 31st, at First
Baptist Church, from 6:00 until 8:00.
Thank you very much.
Media, do you have any questions?
>> Do you have any first-hand knowledge or
anecdotal knowledge of what was actually
said to the employees and by whom?
>> Well, I know that it it's been a
constant. They have been told they have
been told they could not absolutely
could not have any
response or show any response to
anything on media that would say
anything about Wakulla County Nursing
Home.
>> Do you believe that the nursing home is
adequately staffed at this time?
>> Adequate, according to Comar, is a 3.0.
We have been working very diligently in
the past. We've worked with 3.4, 3.5,
3.6, and that gives adequate care. That
makes sure that we're able to sit. And
if somebody just needs to hold her hand
for a moment, we can hold her hand.
But at this point in time, no, we're not
able. They're not able to give that time
because now everybody is like a
microwave. You pop in and you pop out.
It's a popcorn syndrome and I want to
just elaborate on the fact that the
boiling pot
or the frog in the kettle. The fact is
it's gradual over time as you put the
water to heat up into it, that's when
they stay in place and they die. We
don't want this nursing home to get to
that point where there's no return. Like
un- unfortunately, we are at the four
point or four star, but unfortunately,
unfortunately, I can see it dwindling
down to the one.
>> This is Mike Goldberg from Open Agenda
TV as seen on PAC 14. We've just
completed covering the
County Executive Julie Giordano's press
conference in regard to the Wicomico
Nursing Home.
>> My purpose is not to engage in political
back and forth. My purpose is to put the
facts before the public, address some of
the most significant misinformation that
has been circulating, and explain what
has actually occurred at the nursing
home, and be very clear about where we
go from here.
There are difficult decisions and
difficult conversations involved in
operating a nursing facility.
>> As well as a press conference
held thereafter
that included speakers Ernie Davis
and Monica Brooks of the NAACP.
We have two very different stories of
what's going on at the nursing home. The
truth is probably somewhere in the
middle, but
the County Executive Julie Giordano
refused to answer any questions
>> Um we will open it up uh to some
questions. We have about 10 minutes. Um
so any uh accredited news agencies uh
feel free to ask your question if you
have anything.
>> What year?
>> You're not an accredited news agency.
>> happened?
>> accredited news agency.
You're being arbitrary, capricious, and
exclusionary.
Open your
>> You spread false narratives. I'm not
entertaining you.
Anybody else? Is there anybody who is an
accredited news agency that has any
questions? WMDT, WBOC.
No. All right. That concludes this and
we thank you so much for your time. If
there's anybody who has any If you need
any interviews afterwards, we'll be
available.
>> And uh
so we continue to have a
lack of transparency and she has
released information and opinions that
have not been verified but are highly
suspect. This is Mike Goldberg
reporting.
