Sonoma County shutters kitchen at Petaluma skilled nursing home due to rat infestation

Apr. 12—By the time Sonoma County health officials were called in to inspect the kitchen of a Petaluma skilled nursing home, the presence of rats was unmistakable.

Rodent droppings were found on food and equipment throughout the kitchen at 98-bed North Bay Post Acute, according to an April 3 food facility inspection report.

Bite marks were found on numerous bags of dried pasta, muffin mix, cereal and cases of bananas.

"Cases of dried goods and single service items observed to have yellow liquid stains, that may be rodent urine," the April 3 county inspections report said.

NORTH BAY POST ACUTE Inspections Report April 3, 2024.pdf

That same day, the county ordered the kitchen closed, said Christine Sosko, director of Sonoma County Environmental Health.

Sosko said such closures at skilled nursing homes are uncommon.

According to a county inspection records, of the 84 food facilities that were shuttered in the past four years due to rodents, last week's closure was the only one involving a kitchen at a skilled nursing home.

Sosko said that with the closure of the North Bay Post Acute's kitchen, patient meals are being brought in from a neighboring nursing home.

Meanwhile, Sosko said North Bay has been cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen, and repairing gaps and openings where rodents may have entered from the outside.

Bryan Tanner, owner of the facility, said in an email that he's working closely with state and county health officials to resolve the identified problems. Tanner, who lists a mailing address in Chino Hills in county records, did not respond to a request for a phone interview.

"Our highest priority has been and will always be the safety of our patients and staff," Tanner said in the email sent to The Press Democrat on Thursday. "Not one person has had any negative health effect due to recent evidence of vermin in a small area at the facility."

But those assurances hold little weight for Crista Barnett Nelson, executive director of Senior Advocacy Services and the local long-term care ombudsman for Sonoma County.

Barnett Nelson said she's never encountered such conditions in her 12 years in the ombudsman role.

"It is an egregious violation of the trust placed in this health care provider to care for some of the most medically frail members of our society," Barnett Nelson said in an email.

The home has 84 residents, according to Nelson's latest census. It is overseen by the California Department of Public Health, which regulates skilled nursing homes in the state.

The nursing home was previously called Empres Post Acute Rehabilitation, and the site has been licensed as a skilled nursing facility since 1969, according to the California Department of Health and Human Services.

It was previously owned by Evergreen Healthcare, according to county records. It's unclear when Tanner took ownership of the facility, but the retail food facility permit granted to him by the county Department of Health Services last June lists the ownership change date as Jan. 1, 2021.

A review of previous county environmental health inspections reports at the site show no other findings of rodent infestation inside the building.

However, an inspection report issued Oct. 26, 2021 did find evidence of rodents outside the building. The facility was called Empres at the time and owned by Evergreen Healthcare, according to the report.

Under "observations," the report said noted a "dead rat carcass and old droppings in cleaning supply shed outside. No food storage or supplies in shed."

"Per operator, facility receives monthly pest control. Bait boxes and traps on site and empty," the 2021 report said. "No evidence of vermin in any other areas inside kitchen."

Since the April 3 closure of the kitchen, county health officials have been doing daily inspections at the facility. Officials with the California Department of Public Health have also been conducting frequent inspections, the agency said.

The day the county closed the nursing home's kitchen, health inspectors found gaps or openings in the wall underneath the ware-washing area; underneath the back screen door; in cabinets around piping underneath the dining room hand-washing sink; in cabinets underneath the hand-washing sink in the employee break room; and underneath the door of the dining room.

The April 3 report also noted that there was severe water damage, and tiles were warped, creating openings and cracks.

An inspection report from Thursday notes that North Bay Post Acute has hired YAY Construction to do repairs in the kitchen, with Saturday shown as the tentative date of completion.

The walls and floors surrounding the large cooking appliances and underneath the 2-compartment sink have been resurfaced, according to Thursday's inspection report. A pest control company has also been contracted, officials said.

With the kitchen closed, nursing home staff are bringing in food from outside. The latest report indicates plans for 3 hot meals catered by Petaluma Market seven days a week, starting Friday.

Environmental health officials have approved the use of the dining area "to ration the catered meals into single-service containers and immediately distribute to patients," according to the Wednesday inspection report.

The county's environmental health division is responsible for food safety at local facilities that serve or sell food, such as restaurants, cafes and food and liquor stores. The agency conducts surveillance, routine inspections and takes enforcement actions where necessary.

Sosko said her division has been recently been receiving a greater number of reports of rodent infestation. "I don't know if it's because of all the wet weather," Sosko said.

Sosko said most of the affected businesses are restaurants, cafes and markets, anywhere food is prepared and sold.

One North Bay Post Acute resident, who asked that his name not be used for fear of retribution, said the facility has had a long-standing problem with rodents. He said the facility has rat traps all around the building and he has even seen them inside the facility.

"I've seen them running around," he said. "This building is old. Rats aren't just coming in when the rain comes. They live in this building."

Ian Clark, a pest control expert with Advanced Integrated Pest Management, said excessive cold and wet weather can impact rodent behavior. Clark said rodents are mammals and require shelter, so cold weather can often drive them indoors with greater urgency.

"Rain especially can flood them out of exterior burrows, causing them to want to get out of the rain just like we would," he said.

Clark, who has worked as a rodent inspector, said that other factors have likely contributed to a recent increase in rodent activity. He said believes the state ban last year of the popular rodenticide diphacinone in one of the factors.

Another factor, he said, was the impact of pandemic-era shutdowns, even several years out.

"When the closures were happening for COVID, and schools shut down and different restaurants went out of business, rodents were sort of left with access to a lot of these places with nobody in them," he said.

Sosko said the presence of rodents such as rats can pose health risks.

"Rodent can carry diseases, we're very concerned about that," she said, adding that of particular concern is the health and safety of people eating food that's been contaminated.

Sosko said her staff will continue to monitor the facility's mitigation efforts. That includes daily inspections until the facility has "a little more control" over the problem.

Inspections thereafter would become less frequent, possibly weekly or biweekly.

Barnett Nelson, the local ombudsman, said the conditions at North Bay Post Acute's kitchen should have been identified sooner by inspectors with the California Department of Public Health. Nelson said that agency has is "woefully understaffed."

Barnett Nelson asked why the kitchen staff didn't notice that food in the kitchen was being eaten by rats and or the droppings throughout the kitchen area.

"When CDPH is in the building, why didn't they notice the breakdown of the tile due to mold?" she said. "This doesn't happen overnight."

Officials with the state Department of Public Health had not responded by 3 p.m. to a Press Democrat request for comment.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.

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