Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano Sets Record Straight on Nursing Home

Wicomico County, MD - Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano held a press conference today to address what she called months of misinformation surrounding the Wicomico Nursing Home. She said the facility had become a political issue during election season and wanted to give the public the facts.

Giordano said the nursing home has a long history in the community. She spoke about the history and background and went into details about how it came about, with the County having their hand in the mix.

Giordano explained that the County owns the facility, but the Nursing Home Administrator and staff run its daily operations. She said the employees are not County workers and have said they do not want to become County employees.

Giordano said her office met with the previous administrator on a quarterly basis and visited the facility two to three times a year. She said those meetings gave no indication of major problems. The one issue brought to the County during that time was a lawsuit from a lab company over unpaid COVID-19 testing charges, which was settled for more than $400,000 using the nursing home's own funds.

Giordano said the full picture became clear after Tina Foskey was hired as the new administrator. She said Foskey found that some employees had been allowed to cash out vacation time without taxes withheld, a practice not found in the personnel manual.

She also said the facility's debit card had been kept at the front desk where multiple people could access it. Tina Foskey has since secured the card and moved the facility toward a controlled purchasing card system.

On staffing, there has been a lot of rumor and misinformation about employees leaving and being terminated. This has been drastically embellished at County Council meetings and in the media. However, County Executive Giordano set the record straight in the press conference.

Giordano said three employees have been terminated since Tina Foskey took over, out of just over 100 total employees. She said each termination followed a progressive disciplinary process and that confidentiality rules prevent the County from discussing specifics. She added that any terminated employee is welcome to sign a waiver allowing the details to be shared publicly.

Giordano also addressed new workplace policies, including a rule against phones and earbuds while caring for residents and a change in employee parking to keep spaces near the building open for visitors, family members and friends of patients.

She said the facility ended bonus and vacation payout practices from the previous administration and instead used the savings for a raise for kitchen staff who had not had a pay raise in over a decade, and also paid for new curtains that were zip tied, and dietitian services.

Giordano listed other changes made under the new administrator, including digitizing patient files that had been kept on paper in unlocked cabinets, securing personnel records that had included Social Security numbers on index cards, and hiring a Medicare and Medicaid billing specialist after finding about $2.3 million in underbilling.

On the facility's future, Giordano made it abundantly clear that the County has no plans to sell or privatize the nursing home. Again, there has been a lot of misinformation spread to the public at the county council meetings, during public comment, in the media, and even today on signs at another press conference that was held about an hour later.

County Executive Julie Giordano explained that she does not have the authority to sell it on her own, since that would require action from both the County Executive and County Council along with a public surplus property process.

Giordano also raised concerns about emergency legislation introduced by the County Council regarding oversight of the nursing home. She said the bill raises questions under the County Charter, including sections on how departments are created and how the executive and legislative branches are separated. She said the legislation would be legally challenged if passed as written.

"There is no plan by this administration to sell or privatize the Wicomico Nursing Home," Giordano said. She said the County has already dedicated close to 100 staff hours helping the new administrator strengthen the facility's operations.

Giordano closed by saying the nursing home has served the community for 60 years and that the County intends to keep supporting it. "We will continue fighting to ensure that the residents who call the Wicomico Nursing Home their home receive the quality care, dignity, and stability they deserve," she said.