HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A Henrico nursing home has landed on a government watch list of facilities identified as having a record of serious health and safety failures, marking the second facility in the county to appear on the list.
A family member of a former resident is now calling for stricter enforcement action as the nursing home has racked up a string of violations over the last year. Meanwhile, the facility says it acknowledges "challenges" and is aiming to improve quality.
'It was dirty and chaotic'
Dominica Williams recalled the constant stress of having a loved one at Parham Health Care and Rehabilitation Center.
"I felt horrible. I felt sad. I felt helpless," Williams said. "It's heartbreaking. Every time I left there, I just, I felt defeated."
She said her cousin Maurice Billups was admitted in January 2025 after suffering a stroke, and he lived there through October.
"What did you first kind of think of the facility?" reporter Tyler Layne asked.
"It was dirty and chaotic," she said. "The scent in the place, it just reeks of urine and just, it smells bad. It really smells bad. For a long time, the whole entire summer, there was no [air conditioning]. They had these big industrial-like blowing fans in there."
Williams said she observed bugs in the building when she went to visit, such as cockroaches, ants, and gnats.
She shared emails with CBS 6 showing she engaged with the facility administration and a long-term care ombudsman seeking resolutions to some of her concerns, including issues with communication and the implementation of Billups' care plan.
In August, she filed a complaint with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), in part alleging Billups was found lying in his urine and feces as an "ongoing occurrence."
"We went in there, he was either wet or he was in his stool. It was one time I remember distinctly that it was dried, so it had to be on there for quite a while," Williams said.
Williams told CBS 6 she has not yet received the results of her complaint.
Inspectors cite 'systemic failure' after abuse findings
Investigation reports over the past year detail violations similar to what Williams said she observed, including a pest problem, a broken air conditioning system, and a permeating odor of urine and feces in the building. On one occasion last summer, state health inspectors said they observed a woman who was "soaked," lying in urine for nearly four hours, a situation the resident said happened "often."
VDH cleared Parham of all citations in October 2025, and at that time, the facility said it was "proud of the progress we have achieved and continues to remain committed to providing quality care in the community."
Two months later in December 2025, VDH returned to the facility for another inspection. Inspectors then found staff failed to provide incontinence care or reposition a dependent resident for five continuous hours and failed to maintain an operable call bell system. Inspectors said they reviewed documentation which "revealed that the facility was aware of the repeated and ongoing inoperability of the emergency nurse call bell system, however, staff were not given a procedure to follow and were unaware of how to mitigate likely injury, illness, or death to the Resident population who were without a means to call for help."
The most severe citations centered on findings that Parham failed to protect 11 residents from abuse, mostly physical abuse by other residents. The inspection report cited multiple instances of residents getting punched in the face, causing injuries such as abrasions and bruising.
"Why do you keep letting him hit me like that?" one of the residents was noted to have asked, according to the report.
In some cases, the inspection report said Parham failed to investigate and report the abuse or provide adequate supervision of known aggressors.
VDH concluded there was a "systemic failure" as Parham had already been cited for failing to protect seven residents from abuse back in April 2025, yet did not implement effective measures to prevent abuse from continuing to happen.
"In multiple instances the facility failed to report the allegations timely, failed to conduct thorough investigations and failed to implement their abuse policy, all of which was previously cited. Instances of non-compliance were identified to have begun July 30, 2025, which was seven weeks after the facility had alleged compliance from the prior citations in April 2025," the report said.
A corrective action plan submitted by Parham noted the facility was taking several steps to rectify the deficiencies including staff education and auditing.
Last month, in February, VDH entered Parham again for a follow-up inspection and continued to cite even more violations, including ones found to have harmed residents or put their safety in immediate jeopardy.
When asked for a response to Williams' complaint and the latest inspection findings, facility spokesperson Mindie Barnett said, "Parham Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center acknowledges we have faced challenges in providing the level of services expected by our residents and regulators. Our team is working diligently to improve our delivery of care to a higher standard of quality. We have added staff at the Center to help address these issues. We remain committed to full regulatory compliance and enhanced outcomes moving forward."
Facility lands on government watch list
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal regulator of nursing homes, identifies Parham as a for-profit facility with low overall quality and staffing ratings. CMS lists Parham under the "Lifeworks Rehab" chain, which VDH said is a vendor operating for Medical Facilities of America nursing homes.
As of January 2026, Parham has been added as a candidate to a government watch list of the nation's worst performing facilities. The federal Special Focus Facility program enrolls at least one low-performing nursing home from every state for increased government monitoring.
Per the program criteria, it aims to address facilities that "rarely address underlying systemic problems that give rise to repeated cycles of serious deficiencies, which pose risks to residents’ health and safety." Facilities are selected for the program based off their performance on health inspections.
In Virginia, Henrico Health and Rehab, which is part of the same Lifeworks Rehab chain, is the current Special Focus Facility. Parham is now one of the state's five candidates that also qualify for enrollment.
"They need to close it down. Yep, they need to close it down," Williams said. "Nobody should be there. Honestly, no patient should be there."
Williams said she ultimately grew so fed up that she moved her cousin to another nursing home. He has since died, but Williams says she's speaking up to call on those in power to take action to better protect aging Virginians.
“I've done everything that I can. I don't know what else to do. I have put in every complaint that there has been for help. The ombudsman— she was amazing for me and my aunt, but to leave him there every day, it was like torture. It's torture. It's no way. Nobody should live like that," Williams said.
Share your nursing home stories with the CBS 6 Investigative Team: Email Melissa Hipolit and Tyler Layne
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