Staffing records false, former nurse testifies

Staffing records were falsified at a now-closed Robinson nursing home, jeopardizing resident safety, a former nurse testified Monday during the federal fraud trial of the facility's operators.

Shannon Johnson, who now lives in Minnesota and is testifying under immunity from federal prosecution, said she tried to be the patients' advocate, but problems at the Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing and Rehabilitation Center worsened when she worked there from November 1998 to January 2003. Her complaints to Atrium's administrator Martha Bell and the state Health Department did nothing to improve conditions, she said.

Bell, 59, of West Mifflin, and the Alzheimer's Disease Alliance of Western Pennsylvania -- the nursing home's parent company -- are accused of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid of more than $7 million.

Staffing levels decreased during the four years she was there, Johnson said. By the time she quit, there often were not enough nurses and aides to give patients' medications safely, clean and change them properly, turn bedridden patients to prevent bedsores or feed residents their entire meals, she testified, fighting back tears.

Of the staffing sheets the facility was required to keep, she said, "I know at times they were not accurate. ... There would be people on there that weren't working." Johnson's testimony is expected to continue today before U.S. District Court Judge Terrence F. McVerry.