But administrator says facility has passed all recent inspections
When Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church Pastor Fr. Richard Meredith first visited the Henderson Manor, he felt an immediate need to contact officials so that something could be done to the building he said smelled of “decay.”
He learned that finding someone to take responsibility for Henderson Manor, listed as one of 48 personal care homes in an April 2025 Personal Care Home Directory on the Kentucky Department of Health and Human Services website, was not easy.
Meredith, after having visited two Catholic residents of the Henderson Manor in September, contacted local officials and soon learned that there’s little they could do and that the facility is under the purview of the Kentucky Office of the Inspector General.
In a letter dated Oct. 1, 2024, Meredith wrote to the inspector general: “In all my years of ministry I have never entered a nursing facility, in this country or elsewhere, which such filth and squalor as I found there.”
He said he has visited many nursing homes and residences for vulnerable and dependent adults, including in a third-world country. “Even there, where there is great poverty, I found the homes clean, simple, and safe,” Meredith wrote.
In a phone interview, the administrator at Henderson Manor, who declined to give her name, refuted claims of the facility’s poor condition. She said there had been issues in the past, but in the most recent seven months the facility has incorporated many structural improvements.
She also said there are new beds, new mattresses and new sheets. “We have new equipment in the laundry room,” she said, adding that new furniture is coming and the facility will also have windows replaced.
She said state regulators came in for a week in January and found the facility acceptable.
“We have passed all state regulations,” she said.
Additionally, she said many of the residents have guardians who are required to meet face-to-face with the residents once a week. None of the guardians have moved their residents from the facility, she said.
The residents pay a once-per-month rent that takes care of all their needs, she said. She declined to say what the rent per month is.
Holy Name’s Meredith, in his efforts, sent another letter in February to the OIG when he didn’t get a response to the first. As of Monday, April 7, he’d not received a response to that one, either.
What alarms Meredith and Shannon Long, the parish’s nurse who has also visited Henderson Manor several times, is that the condition of the facility has long been known by many in the community, and they say nothing has been done to improve it. Long, a registered nurse who has worked in various capacities throughout her career locally, said it’s an open secret that the conditions at Henderson Manor are less than acceptable and have been for a long time.
Long was shocked when she visited the facility. “How do people live here?” she said was her thought.
“It’s not fit for a human being,” Meredith said.
But Meredith’s and Long’s reactions aren’t reflected in recent visits from state officials, with the exception of a health department inspection that found multiple serious infractions with food preparation.
Records obtained from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services show that the Kentucky Office of the Inspector General visited the Henderson Manor twice recently. In a January visit, inspectors investigated complaints and found “no deficient practice.” The six complaints were not described in the document and only an identifier using letters and numerals were used to describe the complaints.
The Hendersonian contacted a spokesperson for the CHFS and asked for a description of the complaints. The spokesperson said that an open records request asking for the report was filed with the incorrect agency; she told the Hendersonian it would need to file a request with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. When the Hendersonian objected that it had already filed with the CHFS—not a different agency—the spokesperson said she would find an answer and get back to the paper. That hasn’t happened.
Additionally, the Hendersonian sent several follow-up questions to CHFS and never received answers, though the spokesperson said she would get those answers.
Both Meredith’s and the Hendersonian’s attempts to find information regarding the facility highlight the priest’s largest concern: Who is looking out for the residents of Henderson Manor, many of whom are wards of the state and cannot take care of themselves?
The Hendersonian was able to contact the investigator, Terri Gipson, who looked at the facility in January, and she confirmed that she was there but couldn’t supply any details, referring this reporter to the CHFS.
Records show that a letter written to the Henderson Manor from Gipson stated: “On January 16, 2025, the Division of Health Care completed a complaint investigation at your facility. The survey was conducted to determine the facility’s compliance with state licensure requirement as it relates to the allegation(s) of the complaint. The survey found your Personal Care Home (PCH) to be in compliance with state requirements and the complaint was unsubstantiated.”
A second visit by OIG in February pertained to the Henderson Manor’s former administrator not obtaining criminal background checks of two employees.
Meredith has also written a letter to the Kentucky Office of the Ombudsman in search of some action “on behalf of the powerless residents assigned to live” at the Henderson Manor.
Joy Markland, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Auditor and Public Accounts, an agency that speaks on behalf the Kentucky Office of the Ombudsman, said the ombudsman’s office has received a complaint and “we’re looking into it.” She didn’t say, though, if an investigation has been initiated. She said the Ombudsman’s office can’t comment on the complaints it has received but she did say that it is talking to people from the facility and the complainant.
Meanwhile, the Green River Area Health Department has visited Henderson Manor multiple times. Officials there, though, say they can only look into issues in which the health department has authority, specifically food service.
A food service inspection that was printed in the February print edition of the Hendersonian and later online show Henderson Manor received a ‘C’—which indicates a failing grade or critical violations—for a Jan. 14 health department visit.
Some of the violations previously reported in the Hendersonian include:
- Handwashing sink being used for other things than handwashing
- Food not maintained at 57 degrees Celsius (135 degrees Fahrenheit) or above
- Lack of properly maintained hot holding unit for TCS food
- Cloths in use not stored in sanitizing solution
- In-use food dispensing utensils not properly stored
- Nonfood-contact surfaces have accumulation of soil, not cleaned at frequency to prevent accumulation of soil residue
- Plumbing system is not designed, constructed and/or installed according to law
- Floors lack frequent cleaning
Also included in the report is the inspector’s note that the stove, oven and exhaust hood were out of service at the time of the inspection and had been out of service since Aug. 9, 2024.
Rebecca Logan, the environmental health director for the Green River Area Health Department, said in the months that the facility had no stove or oven, employees used alternative ways to cook food, including hot plates and microwaves. She said facilities are not required to have a certain type of stove, so long as food is cooked to a certain temperature and is able to be held at a certain level.
Logan said health department officials did talk to Henderson Manor owners and that an oven was purchased. She said the facility is meeting the requirements now for food preparation and has proper equipment in place.
In a Feb. 18 follow-up food service inspection by the health department, Henderson Manor scored an A/98.
The most recent sale price of the facility may offer some insight into the building’s condition.
According to the Henderson County Public Valuation Administrator’s website, the most recent sale, going from MDH Management Group Inc. to Henderson Manor II LLC, was finalized June 30, 2023. The price for the 12,000 square foot building was $10,000. Twenty-two years earlier—in 2001—the facility was sold to MDH Management Group Inc. for $525,000, according to the PVA website.
Its 2025 assessed total taxable value is $360,000, according to the PVA website.
The owners of the Henderson Manor are not local. On the Kentucky secretary of state’s website, three different limited liability companies are shown as connected to Henderson Manor—Henderson Manor I LLC, Henderson Manor II LLC and Henderson Manor Management LLC. The address listed for the LLCs is in Cedarhurst, N.Y., and when the address is used in a search for New York businesses, the company that comes up is called Eldercare Partners Asset Management LLC.
Further research on the Kentucky secretary of state’s website shows the same people involved with the Henderson Manor LLCs also own 14 other personal care homes in the state and most have three LLCs connected to each facility.
The Hendersonian called the number listed on the company’s website three times. A message said Racquel Edery, who is an officer of the Henderson Manor LLCs, was on the other line and that the mailbox was full, so no message could be left.
The Hendersonian also sent a text message, but there has been no response. It’s unclear if the number accepts texts.
Meredith closed his February 11 letter to the OIG office like this: “The situation at the Manor is dire. Should there be some incident exposing the conditions under which the vulnerable residents live, no one will be able to claim ignorance in their regard. Those entrusted with public safety and well-being simply have no excuse for the conditions at the Manor to go unaddressed.”
