GILLETTE, Wyo. — Campbell County Health has fired one full-time employee and terminated the contracts of three others following an internal investigation into the death of an 88-year-old woman at the Legacy Living and Rehabilitation Center in early January.
The woman, whose name hasn’t been publicly released, was a resident of the Legacy’s Memory Care Wing. She was discovered unresponsive by facility staff in an outside courtyard in the early morning hours of Jan. 10.
Campbell County Coroner Paul Wallem told County 17 on Jan. 24 that his office is waiting on the results of a few reports, including toxicology, before stating an official cause of death. He also declined to release the woman’s name, citing the active investigation.
As of Jan. 23, CCH has completed its internal investigation. CEO Matt Shahan announced the staff terminations during a recent Board of Trustees meeting.
According to Shahan, CCH has stopped taking admissions as a precautionary measure and has amended its agreement with the agency that supplied the contracted employees involved. Additionally, an internal registered nurse has been assigned to conduct a quality improvement review.
The healthcare organization has also imposed additional safety measures at the Legacy, including changing reporting relationships to ensure support for the entirety of the facility, per Shahan.
The woman’s death was profoundly shocking and saddening for the healthcare organization, Shahan said, promising that CCH has many caring and committed members who show up to serve their community every day and that they will continue to do so.
“These recent events have shaken all of us, and we are determined to take every possible step to reaffirm your confidence in our institution,” Shahan said during the meeting.
Board Chairman Tom Murphy said the actions taken by CCH, especially the firing and terminating of staff contracts, were tough but completely warranted. He said temporarily halting Legacy admissions until leadership is certain all issues have been resolved was a prudent decision.
“All of us on the board are deeply saddened by what happened at the Legacy,” Murphy said. “We are fully supportive of the efforts of [Shahan] and his competent team to address the issues involved, to learn from them and to come out of this a safer and stronger institution.”