SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — The Care Center at Sunset Lake, in Liberty, has been the subject of numerous claims of poor conditions—what’s the latest? Lack of heating and staffing. The …
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SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — The Care Center at Sunset Lake, in Liberty, has been the subject of numerous claims of poor conditions—what’s the latest? Lack of heating and staffing. The facility is one of the few adult care centers in Sullivan. It’s owned by the county and has been operated by a private company, Infinite Care, since 2021.
“It was really cold in there with the door closed,” county resident and member of the Senior Legislative Action Committee (SLAC) Lise Kennedy reported to the legislature on January 16 in public comment about the unheated room the family council of the adult care center met in at the facility.
“This evidence of neglect of the building and of the health and comfort of the fragile residents, their visitors and staff continues,” she said.
Additionally, ongoing issues with individual heating units in patient rooms at the center were reported by Lou Setren, a fellow SLAC member and resident.
“I thought that every one of those individual units, which are decades old, would be replaced with new units. But apparently, funding is an issue with a total replacement of those units at the care center,” he said.
The facility has suffered recurring issues beyond heating, including air conditioning, roofing, leaks, elevators and disrepair in the kitchen.
“I think we need to be very serious in [20]25 about addressing some of these concerns,” Nadia Rajsz (D-2), the chair of the legislature, said about capital improvements at the care center during a 2025 budget meeting in December.
“What happened was the priority shifted, and this facility got neglected, and now here we are. The need is the same, the service is the same,” said legislator Catherine Scott (D-5) at the same meeting.
Sullivan County’s 2025 budget passed on December 12, 2024 with no designated funding for capital improvements to the adult care center.
Staffing issues
High care-center occupancy is coupled with high staff vacancies. Of the 233 county job vacancies reported in January, nearly half of them, 114, are openings at the care center, according to an update from Anna Novello, Sullivan County Commissioner of Management & Budget.
The center continues to have chronic understaffing issues and reported an occupancy of 130 in January, the highest the facility has seen since before COVID-19, according to Scott.
Kennedy asked another question related to staffing at the January 16 meeting of the county’s health and human services committee: whether the facility’s current director of nursing (DON) meets the qualifications outlined for the position.
“Amanda Froehlich is qualified to be the care center’s director of nursing under both county and state regulations,” said county communications director Dan Hust in an email to the River Reporter.
According to the job description, the minimum qualification for the position is, “Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered four (4) year college or university with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and six (6) years of progressively responsible experience in professional nursing activities, three years of which shall have been in a supervisory position.” However, according to the state’s professional verification search, Froelich received her Registered Professional Nursing license in 2022.
Who is responsible?
Accountability for poor conditions, like inadequate heating, at the facility has become murky with the operation and ownership of the care center split between a private company, Infinite Care, and the county respectively.
The county legislature formed an LDC in 2020 to sell the Care Center at Sunset Lake, saying it was a burden on taxpayers. But, four years later, the county still owns it.
The county intended to sell the facility to Infinite Care, but there have been multiple delays in obtaining the New York State Department of Health’s Certificate of Need, a legal document required before ownership of any healthcare facility in New York can be transferred.
The public outcry following reports of Infinite Care’s poor performance, and a legislature split over whether to keep or transfer ownership, have contributed to the delays. The state has held off on its decision since last summer.
Since October 2021, when Infinite Care took over operations, the care center has gone from a four-star to a one-star rating, and just recently moved to a two-star rating according to medicare.gov.
The River Reporter has previously reported accounts of mistreatment and mismanagement under infinite care operations. See www.bit.ly/RR-2025-care-center-accountable.
Without the New York State Department of Health’s certificate of need that allows the legal transfer of ownership from Sullivan County to Infinite Care, the county remains the legal owner of and party liable for the care center.
The Senior Legislative Action Committee (SLAC), a group of residents who have advocated for the care center to be operated and owned by the county and not Infinite Care, has urged the legislature to improve conditions and care at the adult home.
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