‘This place is a madhouse’
Bed bugs are crawling all over Henderson Manor, according to residents who live there.
The exterminators came, according to resident Michael Schoborg, but they didn’t get rid of the bed bugs, which he said in a mid-August interview are still living on his mattress.
“I sleep on it daily,” he said. “I have no choice.”
Bed bugs are one of the numerous complaints that residents of the personal care home have about the facility. This complaint—and many more—came during the interview, about 16 months after the Hendersonian first wrote a series of articles about Henderson Manor’s deficiencies. Then, the pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church sounded the alarm on the conditions of Henderson Manor. “It’s not fit for a human being,” Fr. Richard Meredith said in the April 2025 article.
Since then, the residents say the local personal care home has worsened. Schoborg, 47, says that he has lived at Henderson Manor for one year and five months. Some of the incidents he and residents have witnessed, in addition to the bed bugs, are:
- A snake found recently caught in a mousetrap
- Mice living in rooms
- Medication left outside by the Dumpster and not terminated properly
- Illegal drug and alcohol abuse
- Illegal drug sales
- Police or ambulance coming every day
- Verbal violence
- Violence
“A lot of violence,” said Eric Lassier, 36, who has lived at the facility for five years. Lassier said he often acts as the person trying to break up fights and restore peace. He has witnessed assaults and broken up fights, and he’s been punched while doing that.
Lassier and Schoborg say that those who have demonstrated violence are still allowed to stay at the facility.
That is “absolutely the case,” Schoborg said. “Henderson Manor is not a safe place because of it.”
What’s added to the daily life of a resident is the almost constant comings and goings of emergency responders to the facility located at 201 Watson Lane.
“If it’s not the police, it’s the ambulance (arriving),” said Lassier.
Residents said the police get tired of taking the calls, often telling them that there’s nothing they can do about some of the complaints unless they witness the crime. Still, police show up and plenty of arrests or citations have been made in the last four months, according to records from the Henderson Police Department.
According to records provided by HPD, seven arrests or citations were made in May; 10 arrests or citations were made in June; eight arrests or citations were made in July; and in August up to Aug. 19 when the Hendersonian made an open records request, there were six arrests or citations.
The number of emergency calls made from the facility, meanwhile, in the same span of May 1 through Aug. 19 is more than 200, according to records.
The 206 calls in that span represent a daily average of 1.85 calls to dispatch. On some days, a 911 call was made from the facility three, four or five times. On July 31, there were seven emergency calls made, records show.
HPD Police Chief Billy Bolin said officers have been taught to treat every call the same and respond as they’ve been trained each time. He did say, though, that there is always the possibility that an officer–being human–could grow weary of the number of calls and lack enthusiasm to respond again and again to that location.
The residents say their daily lives hold no peace, which can mean witnessing a person getting punched in the face, a drug deal or the police arriving to deal with a disturbance.
When asked if they are living in fear, Schoburg said, “In the presence of some of the violent residents, I am.”
Lassier said he’s been hit twice in the face, and he’s witnessed another resident get hit twice and the person who did the hitting is back living in the facility.
A lack of peace can also mean dealing with unsanitary conditions, including the aforementioned bedbugs, but also snakes and mice. Schoborg said in a second interview in early September that he woke one night and spied what he thought was a large cockroach. But when his eyes focused, he saw it was a mouse. Another photo that Lassier showed is of a snake caught in a sticky mouse trap.
Despite the complaints and beliefs that the facility should be better, the residents told the Hendersonian that the job is tough for the staff and they do not get paid enough for what they have to deal with.
That’s a sentiment shared by Stacey Graus, an attorney out of Covington who is representing Schoborg. Graus said that facilities such as Henderson Manor won’t be able to completely prevent some of the incidents from happening. But based on what he said he’s been seeing and hearing, it’s a “pathetic” situation.
“It shouldn’t be conditions like a third world country,” Graus said.
He said he’s written to the Henderson Manor, but hasn’t received a response. He’s also filed a complaint with the state Office of Inspector General and said he’s hopeful that the issue is processing through the system.
Many personal care homes in the state, such as Henderson Manor, are privately owned. They fall under the regulation of the Cabinet for Health and Human Services in the executive branch of state government. That means local government has little recourse in dealing with the facility unless there were a codes complaint. The Green River Health Department, meanwhile, regularly inspects the food service area but can only check other areas of the building if something egregious is seen on the way to the food inspection.
One of the reasons the facility stays open, according to residents and officials, is that it would be difficult to find housing for those who live in Henderson Manor if it were to close. Many of the residents are wards of the state and have no family to go to.
Local state Sen. Robby Mills said if the facility were to shut down there’s the possibility that many of the residents would end up on the street.
“It’s a tough situation,” Mills said.
Mills said he pushed for more funding in the form of the per diem for people at personal care homes in last spring’s General Assembly budget session. Currently, the state funds $50 per day per resident at a personal care home. In the most recent budget session, Mills said he pitched a $25 per day per resident increase in 2027 and then another $25 per day per resident increase in 2028. It didn’t go over well.
“Any request for funding was not a ‘light no,’” he said. “It was pretty much a ‘heck no.’”
He said the appetite for any continual health care funding increase–not a one-time funding initiative–is minimal for the Republican supermajority. Mills, though, said “these folks (at Henderson Manor) are the least of thee” and the state needs to find a way to fund facilities where they are housed.
“$50 a day is not sufficient for taking care of these folks,” he said.
The Hendersonian called the Henderson Manor seeking comment but the person answering the phone declined. The Hendersonian also called one of the owners of the facility who lives in New York State and left a message. The call was not returned before this article was posted.
Lassier, the resident who has been at Henderson Manor for five years, said in the past the facility was a good place. People got along. They had dances on the weekends. And it has been a part of his life.
“I still love everybody here,” Lassier said.
But now, he is trying to find a way out and a place to live on his own.
Schoborg is, too. “If I’m here in two months, I’ll be surprised,” Schoborg said.
“This place is a madhouse.”
