Edmund Place

About this Property

#Last Tenant

Edmund Place was a nursing home built in 1994 using state and federal money. Partners Jon Orabona and Antonio L. Giordano applied to the State of Rhode Island to construct and operate an elderly care facility in 1988.¹ Both men were colorful characters at the time who have since been involved in more scandals. Giordano would eventually plead guilty to charges of funneling money from his cash-strapped nursing homes into businesses operated by his family. This story is hard to believe, even by Rhode Island standards.

Jon Orabona

After Giordano left the Edmund Place partnership, Orabona continued with help from his mother, Teresa. Orabona was a state senator from Providence’s Federal Hill. It took about six years to apply and secure funding to build Edmund Place, and then another six years to run it into the ground, so it seems.

Teresa Orabona was an Inspector for the State of Rhode Island Board of Elections. In 1983 she was accused of soliciting votes for her son at a polling place on Federal Hill,² a charge for which you would assume she knew better. In 1992 she was reappointed to a previous position she held on the City Council’s Finance Committee by Vincent “Buddy” Cianci.³

Jon Orabona is a colorful character because of the conditions of his retirement in 1996. While he was only 51 years old, he had accumulated and purchased 79 years worth of state pensions. He had three sources for pensions: his legislative work, his school teacher and administration job, and his work for former Mayor Paolino, Jr. The practice of multiple pensions was possible by purchasing credits towards a pension for any City-related work. He reached back as far as his teenage years when he worked summers at city swimming pools to accumulate enough years of service.³ It sounded very much like friends in government helped him arrange these multiple retirement deals and worked all the legal angles of the system in the process. All three pensions would have totaled $106,000 a year in 1996 dollars!

While he admitted no wrong-doing, and everything he did was in fact legal, the legislature was quick to use this case as a reason to plug loopholes in the retirement system.

As soon as Edmund Place was open and started to admit patients, it had financial troubles. Orabona petitioned the state to increase Medicare reimbursements after a $2.8M construction cost overrun. State law limited the cost at $7.3M in 1989 when the project won approval, but Orabona never alerted the state of the increased cost of $10.1M. Medicaid reimbursement rates are based on how much the state allows for building and running a nursing home; any increase in those costs raises the cost to taxpayers and requires state approval.⁴

The freeze was lifted within a week, not because the home satisfied the Health Department, but because Joseph Almonte decided the Department did not have the authority to freeze admissions. Edmund Place still needed to change its 1989 Certificate of Need to reflect the project’s higher cost.⁵ They must have done so — failing that, the center would have been forced to close.

On March 5, 2000, roughly six years after opening, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services forced Edmund Place to close for failure to comply with requirements for participation in the Medicare program.⁶ Inspections showed the nursing home did not adequately care for at least three patients and failed to provide proper food-service sanitation, among other deficiencies.⁷

Antonio L. Giordano

The really colorful character and convicted criminal is Mr. Giordano.

Giordano withdrew from the original Edmund Place partnership when the state learned he had been suspended in 1987 from participating in federal housing programs. The suspension was a result of allegations that Giordano enlisted subcontractors to inflate construction bills on three nursing home projects. Giordano was never charged, and he was reinstated at the end of 1988,⁸ but the application that same year would have been rejected if his name remained.

While that alone was not a great look, Giordano remained connected to Edmund Place. It sought a federally insured construction mortgage and in 1994 received $8.6 million from a mortgage company in which Giordano was a stockholder. A company owned by Giordano’s wife and children was paid to manage Edmund Place.⁹ And remember those cost overruns at other nursing homes? While he was not directly involved on paper, it is interesting that Edmund Place was $2M over budget after its completion.

Giordano was one of the biggest delinquent borrowers in the state banking crisis in 1991. Giordano owed a disputed $12M debt to DEPCO, the state bailout agency formed in the wake of the banking debacle. In January 1995, DEPCO’s board rejected a proposed settlement that would have reduced the amount to $9M. The rejection was partially a result of the $100,000 wedding Giordano threw for his daughter on New Year’s Eve at the Westin Hotel.¹⁰

The state in 2005 would agree to accept a $3M payment to settle the debts left over from the banking crisis. The deal canceled out more than $10 million in delinquent loans that Giordano and his business partners owed Rhode Island taxpayers. As part of the agreement, Giordano would not push to collect $6.7 million the state owes them from a lawsuit against the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.¹¹

In June of 2006, Giordano and John J. Montecalvo pled guilty to federal court charges that they diverted more than $780,000 from nursing homes to a company run by Giordano’s daughters called My Place. My Place provided employee services and perks such as holiday parties. Edmund Place was not named in the lawsuit, but similar nursing homes were.

Hillside nursing home on the East Side of Providence paid My Place a total of $130,798. They closed in 2004 after years of financial problems and patient woes. An 87-year-old patient, Germaine Morsilli, died in 2004, prompting a wrongful-death lawsuit charging that neglected bedsores shortened her life. Lawyers attributed the problems to staffing difficulties and inadequate Medicaid reimbursements. The Coventry Health Center in Coventry paid My Place $267,041 and was placed in receivership in 2001 after defaulting on its mortgage. Mount St. Francis in Woonsocket paid My Place $382,700 and was also placed into receivership.¹²

Giordano was sentenced to serve 2¹/₂ years in prison and ordered to pay $780,539 in restitution — one of the few sums he actually paid in full. The pair later admitted to embezzlement and conspiracy charges in state court, where they agreed to pay about $1.1 million in fines and restitution.¹³

In 2009, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sued Giordano and his associate, seeking more than $12M. The agency argued they violated their contract by misdirecting money as the homes slipped into debt.¹⁴ Giordano filed for bankruptcy in October 2011, but the government argued the petition was an attempt to circumvent the HUD lawsuit.¹⁵

In a scathing ruling from 2012, a Chief U.S. District Court Judge ruled the two men misused $4.2 million from Mount St. Francis and $1.8 million from Coventry Health Centers. The judge doubled the damage award, saying:

“[Giordano] did this for one reason, to line his pockets, and the pockets of his business associates, friends, and family members with ill-gotten gains.”¹⁶

In December of 2012, in a final ruling after appeals, a federal judge ordered Giordano to pay $13.8M.¹⁷ A few months after that, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge pursued $22M in claims against two entities controlled by Giordano’s children, Potter Road Trust and Evergreen Estates Managing Corp. The IRS was seeking $8.9 million in payroll taxes in addition to the $13.8M former judgement.¹⁸

More about Giordano can be found in this 2002 Providence Phoenix article.

Architecture

The building is nothing special, though it is not terrible, either. The first floors are tucked in from the three floors above, offering covered parking spaces underneath. Its mass consists of two wings running from north to south with a central space in the middle, presumably where elevators and nurses stations would be located. From the sky it resembles an “H” shape. On the Taunton Avenue side is an open courtyard between the two wings, while on the Edmund Street side there is a raised terrace at the second floor level. The building has a flat roof but the third floor utilizes mansard details to reduce the boxiness of the massing.

#Current Events

Though it has entertained a few offers, the building has sat vacant since 2000.

#History

Edmund Place was a home for those who were close to the end of their life. By definition, a nursing home’s patients need long term care. Given the longer story of how care at Edmund Place was administered, we are going to include the number of obituaries as reported in the Providence Journal.

1991

The nursing home development project for 180 beds won zoning approval.

“In a separate action last night, the council approved development plans for a 180-bed nursing home in the neglected Six-Corners area of Taunton Avenue. The redevelopment project, proposed by John Orabona, is based on plans already approved by the state Department of Health and $7 million in financial backing for a mortgage on the land and building from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Edmund Place Nursing Home will involve a new four-story building, with street access from both Taunton Avenue and Edmund Street, and a 60-space parking lot.”¹⁹

1994

“The home was built in 1994.”²⁰

1995

“The recently opened Edmund Place Health Center, on Waterman Avenue in East Providence, cost $10.1 million to build — nearly $3 million more than the limit set by state regulators in 1989.”²¹

“…the 46 residents who have moved in since early January are being well cared for. Edmund Place eventually hopes to have 180 residents.”²²

Deaths — 31 people were reported via the Providence Journal obituaries to have passed while at Edmund Place.

1996

Deaths — 51 people were reported via the Providence Journal obituaries to have passed while at Edmund Place.

1997

“…a nurse’s aide grabbed a 79-year-old man’s wrists, threw him onto a toilet, and punched him in the mouth, knocking out a tooth, the attorney general’s office alleges in court papers. […] the patient, Jose Simao, had been bruised on his wrists and was bleeding from his mouth; a tooth was hanging loose. Simao died about three weeks later, although his death was ‘totally unrelated’ to the alleged assault, Edmund Place administrator Stephanie Barrette said yesterday.”²³

Deaths — 63 people were reported via the Providence Journal obituaries to have passed while at Edmund Place.

1998

Deaths — 38 people were reported via the Providence Journal obituaries to have passed while at Edmund Place.

1999

Deaths — 33 people were reported via the Providence Journal obituaries to have passed while at Edmund Place.

2000

“The East Providence facility, accused of improper care, is also fined $36,000. Now, 123 residents must leave by April 4.”²⁴

“Notice is hereby given that the provider agreement between Edmund Place Health Center, 350 Taunton Place, East Providence, Rhode Island 02914, and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, as a provider of skilled nursing services under the Health Insurance for the Aged and Disabled Program (Medicare) is terminated effective March 5, 2000.”²⁵

Deaths — 12 people were reported via the Providence Journal obituaries to have passed while at Edmund Place.

2002

The mortgage for Edmund Place is foreclosed on by HUD and was set to be sold at public auction. ²⁶

A neighboring nursing home had interest in the property. “The United Methodist Elder Care facility on Irving Avenue has 91 units of subsidized housing, 84 nursing beds and 25 units of affordable-assisted living. An expansion into Edmund Place would add 70 affordable-assisted units.” Johnson & Wales University also expressed interest in the property for new dorms. Neither ended up bidding on the property. The City of East Providence passed on a first option from HUD to acquire the property.²⁷

On April 30, “With a final bid of $2,251,000, Barrington real-estate investor Joseph Ruggiero emerged yesterday as the winner of the right to purchase the former Edmund Place nursing home on Taunton Avenue.”^{28 29}

By June, a narrow 3–2 vote in favor of a zoning change allowed the building to become a dormitory. “Johnson & Wales University will lease the former Edmund Place Nursing Home from the Barrington investor who outbid the college on the property in April.”³⁰

2003 and beyond

The property remained vacant. No documentation of a foreclosure or change in ownership was found.

#In the News

Nursing home loses its federal payments

by Richard C. Dujardin
Providence Journal | March 10, 2000 (abridged)

Citing the nursing home’s failure to provide adequate care, the federal agency that administers Medicare is terminating all payments to the Edmund Place Health Center on Taunton Avenue as of April 4.

The decision, which also slaps the home with a $36,000 fine, means that all of the home’s 123 patients must be transferred to other facilities by that date. The home had a patient population of 145 only a few weeks ago.

Inspections showed the nursing home did not adequately care for at least three patients and failed to provide proper food-service sanitation, among other deficiencies. […]

Of the 123 patients at the home, 110 are on Medicaid, with the costs jointly shared by the federal and state governments. Most of the other 13 patients are on Medicare, which is entirely financed with federal money. […]

The first public indication that all was not right with the nursing home came Wednesday, when state Health Director Patricia A. Nolan ordered three patients transferred from Edmund Place because the department believed their health was in jeopardy.

That order lambasted the home for failing to follow up on an orthopedic surgeon’s warning that it seek a consult for a patient who had developed blackened tissue and blistering on his heels.

It also criticized the home for its failure to address another “at-risk” patient’s problem with pressure ulcers and for failing to follow an occupational therapist’s recommendation that the patient be given splints to keep his heels off the bed.

Nolan’s report observed that in the case of a third patient, also with a history of pressure ulcers, the nursing home failed to devise a plan for preventing new ulcers. It charged that the home ignored a physician’s order that a two-sided dressing be applied to the patient’s tail bone, and did not follow up on a doctor’s recommendation that a gastroenterologist be consulted about the patient’s gastric problems.

Robert Marshall, assistant director of the state Health Department, said the department decided to remove those three residents because of the nature of their condition and the realization that the nursing home was not giving the required “high level of care.”

Yesterday’s actions come at the end of several months of inspections by state health officials and warnings that Medicare and state Medicaid payments could be cut off.

The first indication of trouble came internally on Sept. 14 last year, when staff from the Health Department wrote that the home was not providing “adequate, necessary care to maintain residents maximum functioning and well-being” and was failing to provide for an “orderly and sanitary environment,” proper food temperatures or proper food-service sanitation.

Another visit to the home on Nov. 2 suggested that the same problems persisted. According to the report, inspectors found the problems again on Jan. 28 and Feb. 14 this year, as well as some more: a failure to address the needs of newly admitted residents and to reassess the needs of other residents.

Marshall said that in light of what has been found so far, the Health Department is sending staff members to the home on a regular basis now to “monitor” the situation and to see that patients are not in jeopardy.[…]

— See footnote for “Nursing home loses its federal payments.”

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State stops admissions to nursing home

by Mike Stanton
Providence Journal | February 10, 1995 (abridged)

The state has frozen patient admissions to a new East Providence nursing home after the owners — former state Sen. John Orabona and his mother — sought higher Medicaid payments from the state to cover a $2.8 million cost overrun.

The Edmund Place Health Center is owned by Orabona, a longtime Democratic power from Providence’s Federal Hill, and his mother, Teresa. Antonio L. Giordano, a major figure in the state banking crisis, formerly held an interest in the home and remains a consultant.

Health Department regulators last Friday froze admissions to the home, on Taunton Avenue, after a lawyer for the owners warned that failure to raise Medicaid reimbursements would leave the home unable to pay its debts, “jeopardizing the quality of services it provides to its patients.”

At a department hearing yesterday in Providence, appealing the freeze, the home’s operators and state officials agreed that the 46 residents who have moved in since early January are being well cared for. Edmund Place eventually hopes to have 180 residents.

But the two sides clashed over whether that level of care will continue without the higher Medicaid rates. Medicaid, financed by the state and federal governments and administered by the state, provides a significant portion of a nursing home’s revenue.

Officials also said that Edmund Place violated its state permit to build the home by exceeding the $7.3 million limit approved in 1989.

Edmund Place operators acknowledge that the project cost $10.1 million; they blame delays and higher construction costs. Medicaid reimbursement rates are based on how much the state allows for building and running a nursing home; any increase in those costs raises the cost to taxpayers and requires state approval.

But Edmund Place never sought approval, even though officials for the home acknowledged yesterday that they knew the costs would be higher. The Health Department didn’t learn of the cost overrun until Edmund Place asked for an increase in its Medicaid reimbursements.

The owners have asked that the daily Medicaid rate per patient be increased from $84 a day to $107. The Department of Human Services, which administers Medicaid funds, agreed Wednesday to a partial increase, to $95 a day, to cover higher operating costs. But the state has declined to raise the rate further to offset the higher construction costs.

“If the facility has inadequate financing, it could fail,” said Wayne Farrington, the Health Department’s chief of facilities regulation. “The representations that they made were that they were clearly underfinanced and that the rate was inadequate for new patients to come aboard.”

After enduring the closings of two financially troubled nursing homes in recent years — the Meadow Glen Nursing Center in Burrillville and the Jewish Home for the Aged in Providence — Farrington said he would prefer to see fewer patients in Edmund Place until the financial questions are resolved.

“It’s very disruptive to a resident’s life and well-being to be transferred,” said Farrington. “It can be difficult to place a large number of residents rapidly. If there should be a problem, I’d rather have to deal with 46 than a larger number.”

But Patricia K. Rocha, Edmund Place’s lawyer, argued that by freezing admissions, the state will cause financial problems for the home that could prove disastrous.[…]

[Antonio L.] Giordano, who has been involved in numerous government subsidized nursing homes and housing projects in Rhode Island, was an original partner in Edmund Place Associates.

He is currently involved in controversial efforts to buy and reopen the Jewish Home for the Aged. And his lingering credit-union debt, which contributed to the 1991 state banking collapse, has led to a pending lawsuit by DEPCO, the state bailout agency.

Last month, DEPCO’s board of directors rejected a proposed settlement that the agency says would have forgiven Giordano and his associates $3 million of their disputed $12 million debt. Adding to questions about the fairness of the settlement was Giordano’s ability to throw a $100,000 wedding for his daughter on New Year’s Eve at the Westin Hotel.

Giordano and Orabona, then a senator, were partners in Edmund Place when it applied to the state in 1988 for a certificate of need, a necessary first step to build a nursing home.

Giordano subsequently withdrew from the partnership after the state learned that he had been suspended in 1987 from participating in federal housing programs, according to Health Department records. Edmund Place intended to seek a federally insured mortgage for the home.

The suspension came as a result of allegations that Giordano tried to enlist subcontractors to inflate construction bills on three other nursing homes. Giordano was never charged, and he was reinstated at the end of 1988.

Orabona, a longtime Providence School Department employee with no nursing home experience, owns 99 percent of Edmund Place; his mother holds 1 percent. But Giordano remains involved in the nursing home.

Giordano’s Consultants Inc. shepherded the project through state and federal approvals. And last month, Giordano wrote the state that Orabona had paid him money owed for the project; according to 1989 Health Department records, Orabona owed Giordano $365,000 for land costs.

Last year, Edmund Place received a federally insured $8.6 million mortgage from a mortgage company in which Giordano is a stockholder. And a company owned by Giordano’s wife and children is paid to manage Edmund Place.

John J. Montecalvo, chief financial officer of Consultants Inc., testified at yesterday’s hearing about the $2.8 million cost overrun. He attributed the increase to delays in obtaining financing and increased construction costs due to inflation and additional regulatory requirements.

Meanwhile, Edmund Place will have to apply for a change in its 1989 certificate of need, to reflect the project’s higher costs — something the state says it should have done before the home opened.[…]

Representatives of U.S. Attorney Sheldon Whitehouse and Atty. Gen. Jeffrey B. Pine, including the state’s Medicaid fraud unit, met with health officials last Friday, according to a Health Department memo.

State and federal investigators also attended yesterday’s hearing, but did not comment.

— See footnote for “State stops admissions to nursing home…”