Should such places be for-profit?
Gabriel House before the fire.
— Fall River Tax Assessor Office photo
Taken from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com
The horrific fire in Gabriel House, the assisted-living place for elderly people in Fall River, an inferno that killed 10 residents and has left 29 injured, raises the question of how much local, state and federal oversight there is over such places serving low-income people. Especially given the rapid increase in America’s elderly population, we must address this.
It seems that some of Gabriel House’s residents would more properly have been in nursing homes, which are more tightly regulated than assisted-living establishments. And there have been complaints about very substandard conditions at the building.
Gabriel House is owned by Gabriel Care, a corporation controlled by Dennis Etzkorn, who owns some health-care facilities in Massachusetts and is listed as an officer in numerous corporations registered in that state. He has had his share of legal controversies. How much of a role, if any, did the drive to maximize profit cause conditions that helped lead to the fire?