My mom was evicted from The Nursing Center at Little Creek in Knoxville Tennessee 8 days shy of 24 months of residency (and 8 days shy of eligibility for their aid program).

Had this state licensed nursing home followed federal guidelines of protection, I would have been allowed a judicial appeal to the eviction. The eviction notice did not contain any parts required by federal nursing home law to prevent abuse, exploitation, and neglect.

My mom died less than one month after the eviction which I've learned is to be expected. It's so common it has a name: transfer trauma or relocation stress syndrome. Experts say that transfer trauma can increase the risk of death within 30 days up to 10 fold in this vulnerable population.

I have since learned that in most states, licensed nursing homes do not have to follow federal laws if they do not accept Medicaid or Medicare. As there are no state nursing home laws with similar protections, it leaves nursing home residents open to abuse, exploitation, and neglect for which there is no recourse. 

Until state laws are changed to force licensed nursing homes to follow the same guidelines as other licensed facilities  - The Nursing Center at Little Creek should change their policies and contract to follow federal nursing home laws. Federal laws were solely written to try to protect nursing home residents that often have no other advocate. 

Please sign and circulate this petition to request that The Nursing Center at Little Creek change their admissions contract and paperwork to specifically say that they will follow federal nursing home laws. 

You can follow this link to read more about what can happen if federal laws are ignored by reading a small portion of my mom's story below. 

Thank you, 

Cheryl 

My mom died June 26, 2022, three months shy of her 88th birthday.

It’s taken me months to realize the extend of the true devastation that The Nursing Center at Little Creek caused my mom and me. My experience will hopefully provide clarity about The Nursing Center at Little Creek’s business practices and the professional and personal ethics of the decision-makers there which deeply affect residents and their loved ones.

Little Creek chose to evict my 87 year old bed-bound, blind, completely immobile, dying mom 8 days shy of her 24th month of residency. The importance of this anniversary should become clear if you read further.

The reason given on the summons to appear on my mom’s behalf in court clearly states the eviction notice was for nonpayment of rent of the amount to be determined in court.

How far behind do you think one would have to be in payment to evict a dying, blind, immobile 87 year old? How many days overdue? How many thousands of dollars behind?

Please envision what it would take for you to evict a dying, blind, completely immobile human being from a nursing home whose mission statement is as follows:

“The Nursing Center at Little Creek is a small (38 Bed), faith-based nursing home providing high quality, compassionate care to those who are nearing end-of-life”

How many months or how many thousands of dollars in arrears would one have to be in order to evicted without any assistance or discussion or help relocating to a new care facility?

It’s important to also add that Little Creek is a nonprofit 501c3 nursing home. How much would it take to force a nonprofit nursing home to evict a dying woman?

A part of their charitable mission and 501c3 status, they say, is their ‘Benevolent Care Fund’. When you fill out the admissions paperwork, you are asked to sign a form acknowledging receipt of the Benevolent Care Fund information - so presumably their nonprofit status is taken seriously and may even hinge on this particular charity.

The care fund, they say, is intended to assist residents

1. who have lived there 24 months or longer consecutively
2. who have limited funds through no fault of their own
3. who will need assistance to continue paying for their care

The presumable goal of the fund would be then to prevent the forced relocation of elderly residents near death who have already paid significant amounts of money to Little Creek (at last notice room and board is over $10,000/month) because they have depleted their money paying for their own care.

It was only after my mom’s death that I read about how common transfer trauma or relocation stress syndrome is in this population. Per experts, moving a vulnerable elderly person can increase their risk of death within 30 days up to 10 fold. Think about that - take a vulnerable senior already at the end of their life - and multiply the risk they’ll die within the month - by 10. There are volumes and chapters written about this topic and the very specific risk factors involved. Most importantly, there’s a body of work outlining the steps that a facility must take in order to reduce the very high risk of death soon after moving.

I myself would fully support a nonprofit receiving what might be significant tax breaks if they were indeed using this benefit if - per their own statements - they provide care for the most vulnerable seniors who are nearing end of life. Surely they’d be aware of transfer trauma as it seems sadly very common, well documented over several decades, and described clearly as to both risk factors and risk reduction that a facility should take. Such an act of benevolence would, to me, seem in line also with a facility saying their mission is, at it’s core, “faith-based”.

The information makes it clear that Little Creek does expect to be made a beneficiary of any assets the resident had and would be reimbursed (to some degree anyway) by assets signed over to them after the resident passes away. Makes sense. After someone passes away, Little Creek would be reimbursed for their benevolence and charity and can go be benevolent and chartable for the next vulnerable person. They are a nonprofit after all.

So at this point let us do a brief review:

Little Creek elected to forcibly evict my mom by court order for nonpayment of rent 8 days before she would have lived there 24 months. That’s the first noted eligibility requirement for their Benevolent Care Fund. She had run through all her money through no fault of her own (second) and needed financial assistance to continue her residency (third).

So - how far behind and how many thousands of dollars would one have to be in arrears for a state licensed nursing home who says their goal is to provide care for those nearing death who are at high risk for transfer trauma (remember that’s up to a 10x increase in death within 30 days), with a charitable fund set up for exactly this reason, who say their mission is rooted in their religious faith?

Do you have a number or an amount of time in months someone would have to be behind in payment for you to think eviction in this population was reasonable?

Well, it’s shocking really.

Zero dollars, zero cents, and zero months behind. That’s the amount and that’s the timeframe of how far behind my mom’s account was when I was mailed a 30 day notice to remove her. Remember the court summons for nonpayment of rent? At the time it was filed .. just to reiterate - there was no nonpayment of rent.

Moving on… so, we’ve covered how far behind her account was.. surely a licensed nursing home would be aware of the risk of transfer trauma? Remember how I said there were very specific risk groups outlined for it and how there were also numerous works by experts in how a facility needed to take steps to prevent transfer trauma? How many steps do you think Little Creek took of what are widely circulated, scientific, and evidence based ways to prevent the risk of death within 30 days based on their actions?

Zero. They took zero steps.

If you are like me, this is where you pause and say waiiiittttt. No way is this legal. That cannot be legal! How can someone forcibly evict a nursing home resident for nonpayment of rent when they are zero dollars in arrears and beyond that do nothing about the clearly documented risks of transfer trauma?

We’d be right if my mom was in some nursing homes - the ones that accepted Medicaid or Medicare. If we lived in a rare other state it would not be legal.

Little Creek simply stated that because they don’t accept Medicaid or Medicare for payment, they do not have to follow the federal guidelines that would have prevented my mom’s eviction. Period. It would have allowed me a judicial appeal, and it likely would have thrown out Little Creek’s eviction notice because 1. my mom was not behind in payment 2. they had to provide a referral to a new nursing home that not only would be appropriate for the level of care she needed - but would have already agreed to accept her and also accept her form of payment.

In court - regular old landlord tenant eviction court - that was what was clearly stated. In a nursing home that accepted Medicaid mind you - federal laws of protection would have been in place. Little Creek - that now charges $10,000 per month for room and board - does not follow these federal laws. Per them - they don’t have to. There are no state laws for nursing homes.. so it’s basically like my mom was a college kid renting a dorm room and time and time again I was told it was just not okay, but it was legal.

The state also said that Little Creek can choose to ignore the federal laws that would have protected my mom (and me) because there are no state laws written to protect nursing home residents outside of these federal laws. So - Little Creek chose to ignore the only laws of protection in my state. This was a choice despite it costing them nothing to do the minimum and follow federal guidelines. It would have cost them nothing to also just follow the recommendations for trying to prevent transfer trauma. They chose not to, and true to what one might expect from the horrific statistics, my mom was dead within a month. In her case the statistics absolutely were true.

So. For anyone reading this - please have these expectations that the can disregard federal laws of protection should you entrust your loved one’s care to Little Creek. There are a lot of words they use about their deep faith, they are proud of their charitable mission, and that they view residents and their loved ones as family. Having walked through this process with them it seems as if they are a nursing home now run by a former personal injury attorney who knows which loophole laws can allow them to forgo any of the steps someone in a Medicaid-accepting nursing home would be provided.

To be fair, when Little Creek heard my mom was dying, their lawyer called my lawyer and said we were in his family’s thoughts and prayers. I otherwise heard nothing from Little Creek until I had to return to court after her death and say the relocation to a new nursing home was a nonissue because she was dead now. After the judge concluded the case closed .. Little Creek’s lawyer accompanied by Mr. Bruce Myers their Director - attempted to hand me a bill. My lawyer reminded him that my mom was dead, I signed no promissory note, so they’d be welcome to sue my mom’s estate if they were pursuing payment. This fit my expectation for how Little Creek views residents and their family.

Little Creek will resoundingly blame the laws and say they did nothing illegal. It is true - because there are no laws they have to follow pertaining to nursing home protections. They did choose - it was a choice - to willingly ignore the federal laws that would have protected my mom and not only were they unapologetic - they doubled and tripled down.

I posted a former very simple innocuous review a few months after my mom died. I feel it important to note that within a few minutes of hitting “post” - Little Creek’s lawyer was threatening me with a defamation lawsuit if I did not remove it. Minutes. I noted that Little Creek has very few reviews and the low star reviews (other than mine) have no accompanying text. I found that interesting. Hopefully my very wordy, very clear, very specific review here that is, I believe, protected free speech will be helpful so others can understand exactly what happened and what they might expect from The Nursing Center at Little Creek. I would also welcome anyone reading this to request Little Creek actually follow federal guidelines written to protect other nursing home residents as - others may not have anyone to tell their story.