Couple out, by a nose

WASILLA — A dustup over a maintenance issue at the Wasilla Area Seniors Inc. (WASI) campus has changed the living situation of an elderly couple and has WASI officials on the defensive. It has also apparently sparked tensions between management at the senior center and a state ombudsman assigned to investigate complaints at the complex.

The confrontation began when 87-year-old James Eller and his wife, 68-year-old Carmen Reisdorph, complained of a smell of sewer gas in their apartment. The couple lived in Susitna Place, a building on the sprawling WASI campus off Knik-Goose Bay Road.

The smell was so bad, Reisdorph said, the couple had to live with their windows and doors open to air out the unit.

“We would pray at night,” Reisdorph said.

Eller, who was not available for comment after being admitted to Mat-Su Regional Hospital Aug. 28, had complained of a foul smell in his Susitna Place apartment for months, said Elizabeth Gilroy, Reisdorph’s daughter and Eller’s step-daughter.

On Wednesday, Reisdorph said her husband had been released from the hospital and was starting to feel better.

Eller’s most recent illness may have been encouraged by living in the apartment with its windows open, Gilroy said. Eller is on supplemental oxygen to help him breathe and had opened the windows to vent the smell.

Eller and Reisdorph’s families claim senior center management did nothing to remedy the problem, instead leaving the couple to live in a putrid stench that made them ill.

Because senior center management had not eliminated the odor, Gilroy said her step-father withheld his August rent. That led to the couple’s eviction, she said.

But on Thursday, Wasilla Senior Campus Director of Housing Laura McCammon said Eller and Reisdorph were never evicted and actually moved out without giving notice. McCammon calls the notice served on Eller a termination of tenancy, which, according to the Alaska Landlord-Tenant Act, is the preferred term used to describe a landlord’s action of terminating a lease agreement for late rent.

“We have a contract,” McCammon said. “A written contract.”

The quick response to Eller’s non-payment of rent doesn’t appear to be a trend in the Valley. Asked whether senior tenants are served with termination of tenancy notices at the Colony Estates Senior Housing Unit, a property owned by Palmer Senior Citizens Center Inc., office manager Rachel Greenberg said she is willing to talk first.

“What’s in the best interest of the senior is to try to help them live as healthy as possible,” Greenberg said, adding if a family had a maintenance issue and didn’t pay rent because of it she’d try to figure out the problem before serving notice.

“Let’s face it, the senior housing situation in the Mat-Su Borough, there’s a waiting list just about anywhere,” Greenberg said.

The odor, fixed or not?

Robin Hall is executive director of the senior center and said in an e-mail the odor problem relating to Eller’s apartment was remedied and verified as fixed by various inspectors.

“Wasilla Area Seniors Inc. maintenance department responded to all calls received regarding odor,” Hall says in the e-mail. “The maintenance department sealed and caulked around the apartment to eliminate all possibilities.”

After the repairs, Hall said various inspectors, including the Wasilla Public Works director, could not detect the odor. Wasilla Public Works Director Archie Giddings was out of town and unavailable for comment.

During a walk-through of Eller’s former apartment Thursday, a bottle of cleaning solution was observed and a heavy scent of cleaning supplies hung in the air. No sewage smell could be detected, but it was clear the apartment had been cleaned thoroughly.

That puzzles Gilroy, who said when Eller moved out she cleaned the place spotless. She also disagrees that Eller and Reisdorph left without notice, and said a notice on the couple’s door made it clear they were being turned out.

Family issues

with treatment

Regardless, Eller’s and Reisdorph’s families say they’re aghast at the treatment the couple received from the senior center. Family members say officials at the center were unwilling to work with them to negotiate an agreement.

“It’s really sad,” Gilroy said. “He is an 87-year-old veteran.”

This is where the state ombudsman comes in.

Lisa Merrill, who works for Alaska’s Office of Long Term Care, came to the WASI campus to investigate Eller’s claim of a sewer gas odor in his apartment. Merrill is also investigating another case on the campus, but would not elaborate on that issue.

After conducting interviews, Merrill drafted a five-page report prior to an August meeting of the WASI Board of Directors. Merrill said she fast-tracked the report so board members would get it in time for the meeting.

In the report, Merrill writes that through a number of interviews it was made clear that the fumes Eller has been smelling are from hydrogen sulfide escaping from the venting system. Merrill also writes the source of the fumes may not be easily detected.

“At this time, it is the recommendation of the [Office of Long Term Care] that the WASI Board of Directors do everything possible to accommodate Mr. Eller and Ms. Reisdorph with their relocation, preferably to another ground-floor unit on campus,” Merrill says in the report.

But McCammon takes issue with the people Merrill interviewed and said only Eller and Reisdorph were talked to about the smell. She also said Eller and Reisdorph were offered another unit on the third floor. The third-floor unit was the only one available in the building at the time.

That offer was declined because Eller is wheelchair-bound and the elevators on the senior campus lock during a fire alarm, Gilroy said.

On Thursday afternoon, a group of Susitna Place residents were playing a game of dominos in the common room of the building. The women, who did not want to be identified, said they hadn’t smelled the sewage-like smell Eller claimed was in his apartment. They did, however, hear others complain of a smell.

Tensions

Merrill’s presence on the seniors’ campus seems to have ruffled some feathers, and Merrill said Hall called her boss at the state Office of Long Term Care to complain that Merrill was organizing residents against management.

Hall, by way of e-mail, said she could not comment until the investigation is complete.

Merrill said she believes Hall called her boss after learning Merrill encouraged residents at the Wasilla Senior Campus to start a residents council as a means to take grievances to management.

“I’ve been encouraging them to organize as a residents council to speak with one voice,” Merrill said. “That’s pretty standard in senior housing and nursing homes that there be a resident council.”

That’s true, said Bob Dreyer, the state’s long-term care ombudsman and Merrill’s supervisor.

“Robin did call me and made an allegation that Lisa was trying to get her removed from her job,” Dreyer said.

Dreyer added he agrees with Merrill that residents should organize a council to bring concerns to management.

Deborah Reisdorph, Carmen Reisdorph’s daughter and a California attorney who provided the senior group with a power of attorney document, states in a letter that her requests for McCammon to speak with her first before any decision was made about an eviction were ignored.

The family wanted to work out a solution before the situation got worse, Deborah Reisdorph said.

“Laura [McCammon] has failed and refused to communicate with me or to call me back, although she has stated that she would do so,” Reisdorph wrote. “It is disturbing that WASI is not meeting the needs of senior citizens in an environment that is created for the benefit of seniors.”

A mission statement on WASI’s Web site says the organization strives to “serve as a local social center providing activities that promote senior and community goodwill.”

But McCammon maintains the senior campus must comply with rules, meaning since Eller didn’t pay his August rent he was served with the termination of tenancy notice.

“It’s just very unfortunate that the situation turned out the way it did,” Merrill said.

On Tuesday, Eller’s step-daughter, Gilroy, said Eller and his wife have moved elsewhere at a significant cost to the couple.

“They’re paying considerably more,” Gilroy said. “It’s going to be good. It’s the best situation we could come up with for them.”

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.