CANTON – A state official said Friday that health and safety inspectors found “serious deficiencies” at the Victorian Villa Rehabilitation and Living Center during a routine inspection last month.

Those deficiencies “constituted immediate jeopardy to the residents’ health and safety,” according to an Oct. 30 letter from Louis T. Dorogi, an assistant director with the Division of Licensing and Regulatory Services at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to Victorian Villa’s administrator Mark Jacobs.

The biggest problem identified by inspectors was security doors that may not have been functioning properly and allowed patients to wander from the facility unsupervised. This risk led to the “immediate jeopardy” report.

Officials at the Pleasant Street facility have already submitted a plan to address those problems staving off any potential funding loss until at least April of 2007, Jacobs said in a phone conversation Friday.

The facility has also hired a consultant and on Friday filed a response to a 68-page report by DHHS detailing other problems at the facility. That response includes a plan to address deficiencies and also starts the process for the facility to informally dispute the inspectors’ findings, Jacobs said.

“Our plan of correction was completed today, faxed and sent by certified mail to the department,” Jacobs said Friday.

The center has 47 skilled nursing beds and 67 assisted living beds. All of the problems were found within the skilled nursing areas.

The facility has six doors equipped with security settings. If a resident wearing a “wander-guard bracelet” goes by one of these doors, the door will lock. If the resident tries to go out through the door an alarm would sound, according to the report.

Inspectors found that the alarms worked, but the doors did not securely latch.

During their visit, the inspectors observed one resident leaving through the ambulance door, and was brought back by a staff member. Jacobs said that resident was immediately followed out the door by staff and convinced to return within a few minutes.

Six residents at the facility wear the bracelet.

According to the report, which cites nursing home records, between Aug. 16 and Oct. 25 there were seven residents who left the building.

“That was the sledgehammer and because of that they really lowered the boom in some other areas,” Jacobs said.

There were 11 other deficiencies found in the DHHS report including:

• the center failed to implement a policy to prevent abuse and neglect of the residents;

• a resident was vomiting for 40 minutes, and a doctor wasn’t called. Regulations require a doctor be notified of any medical problems;

• a resident was slipping off the bed and had bruises. He or she was not examined, the report shows, and another resident suffered significant weight loss;

• the family or legal guardian of one of 11 residents interviewed was not notified in writing of the resident’s transfer or discharge, as required;

• families or guardians of two of 11 residents interviewed were not notified of changes in the residents’ medical care or room placement, as required.

• times when the residents weren’t given nail care or “a resident was not maintained free from odor;”

• a problem with the center’s finances. “Based on reviews of resident fund accounts, review of the surety bond and interview, the facility failed to ensure the surety bond amount covered the full amount of residents’ funds maintained by the facility in resident accounts for three of nine months,” the report states; and

• handling linens in a way that could spread infection.

The Victorian Villa’s deficiencies were much more serious than others in the area, Green said. However, most nursing homes surveyed show up with some degree of deficiency.

It is unusual for a survey to show a deficiency of immediate jeopardy, Green said.

Usually these problems are taken care of, Green said. However if they weren’t, the facility could lose its privilege to bill to Medicare or Medicaid, or lose its right to operate.

“We can take whatever action we need to take,” Green said.

The Victorian Villa has come up with deficiencies in the past three years, Green said, but none as serious as those found this year.

On Friday, Jacobs said he expected the state would do a follow-up inspection within the next few weeks and that the facility would be found to be compliant with health and safety regulations.

“We’ve got our plan of correction going in and in a few weeks we expect to get a clean bill of health from the state when they do their follow-up,” Jacobs said.