SOUTH HILL, Va. — The paramedics in South Hill, Virginia never know what to expect on any given day, but they said emergency responses to one particular location did become more of a constant.
According to 911 data, calls for service to Twin Lakes Rehabilitation and Nursing spiked by 70% following a change of ownership.
As CBS 6 previously reported, VCU Health said it sold what was once called The Hundley Center to the New Jersey-based Eastern Healthcare Group on April 1, 2025. With it, came the name change to Twin Lakes and a shift in ownership type from non-profit to for-profit.
Under VCU Health in 2024, the facility made 65 calls to 911 from April through November.
In 2025, Twin Lakes made 114 calls during that same time period.
"We've had times where we actually had two ambulances respond at the same time to the exact same nursing home, which is Twin Lakes. We've had multiple calls within a day to the facility. We've had calls where we went once and then we've gone again in less than 30 minutes," said Gavin Gwaltney, captain of Southside Rescue Squad, the EMS agency that serves South Hill and Mecklenburg County.
Gwaltney said some of the calls from Twin Lakes were expected, like for end-of-life patients and those in respiratory distress. But other seemingly non-emergent calls, he said, were on the rise including for instances where patients' feeding tubes came out or became dislodged.
“You take them to the hospital; they get sent back by a transport service. They pull out the same tube four hours later, and we come back, transport that same patient all over again, and in that we're sending a 911 ambulance, we're taking up a ER bed for hours at a time," Gwaltney said.
“Is this typically something that could be handled within the facility, if you have the appropriate medical staff on site?” reporter Tyler Layne asked.
"Absolutely," Gwaltney said.
Public records obtained by CBS 6 showed that in April through November of 2024, VCU Health's Hundley Center called 911 twice for a feeding tube issue.
During a matching time period in 2025, Twin Lakes put in seven calls for the same, oftentimes telling dispatchers the patients pulled out the feeding tubes themselves.
Nurse Practitioner Merin Kinikini, who is unrelated to Twin Lakes and cares for patients on artificial nutrition support in Utah, said, in most cases, replacing a feeding tube can be easily done in a long-term care setting by a trained licensed practical nurse or registered nurse.
"It's a five-minute procedure," Kinikini said. “They may not have been taught it in school, but they can learn it... It's very doable for them to be able to have this as a skill, and I’m sure they kind of would want to.”
She said there are times a transfer to a hospital may be necessary such as if the tube became dislodged shortly after an initial placement, if it's been out for too many hours, or if staff don't know how long it's been out.
Generally speaking though, she said nursing homes should have the supplies and staffing to take care of it.
“If they just have those in stock and someone dislodges it, they just have one on hand, and they can just replace it, and they don't have to send them to the emergency room to do that," Kinikini said.
CBS 6 requested a response from Twin Lakes and Eastern Healthcare Group regarding Gwaltney's concerns and the 911 data.
A general email address associated with Eastern provided a statement that said, “Since assuming ownership from VCU in April 2025, the facility has expanded its ability to care for more residents, including those with increasingly complex medical needs. This reflects the confidence local hospitals place in the facility’s clinical capabilities and its ability to safely care for higher-acuity patients. When staff have concerns about a resident’s condition, they are trained to err on the side of caution and seek appropriate medical assistance.”
In the months before and after the sale, federal data showed the census at the facility rose from an average of 88 residents per day to 100 residents per day.
But all the while, the average reported staffing levels declined.
“The resident population has increased, and the staffing hours have not followed that increase no matter how you break it down," said data consultant Eric Goldwein of 320 Consulting, who reviewed the facility's staffing reports.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal regulator of nursing homes, reports Twin Lakes' staffing ratings went from "much above average" under VCU Health to "much below average" in the months following the sale. CMS previously gave the facility a 5-out-of-5-star staffing rating. It has now dropped to a 1-out-of-5-star rating.
In the first quarter after the acquisition, CMS data showed the average reported total of nurse staff hours per resident per day dropped by nearly a whole hour.
At least three family members or residents have reached out to CBS 6, saying they've filed complaints with the state alleging a recent decrease in staffing has led to quality of care concerns, including medication delays and less frequent showers. The state has not yet completed an updated inspection of the nursing home.
“The nurses that are charged with my care are doing a very good job. Now, those nurses are working to the max. They are short-staffed," said resident Ronald Rawlings, who has lived at Twin Lakes before and after the sale.
CMS gives Eastern Healthcare Group an overall chain rating of 1.4-out-of-5-stars, which is calculated based on its facilities' performance on metrics including health inspections and staffing. Only 18 out of the more than 600 chains in the country have a lower rating, according to CMS data.
Gwaltney similarly attributed the issues his agency noticed to staffing concerns.
“Unfortunately, I would have to estimate that this is a lack of staffing issue, and I don't know why that is, because when they first transitioned, it seemed that they had just as much staffing as they did before," Gwaltney said.
In response to questions about reduced reported staffing levels at Twin Lakes, CBS 6 received a statement from an email address associated with Eastern that said, “Since Twin Lakes is no longer affiliated with the hospital, staffing levels have naturally changed. Staffing changes and fluctuations are inevitable with any ownership transition.”
At the time of our interview in late December, Gwaltney said he had attempted to meet with leadership of the facility in-person without success.
“I don't know who's in charge of the agency. I haven't met them, even though I've been trying," Gwaltney said.
Since then, he said he has been able to meet with the nursing home administration and said they were receptive to his concerns. Gwaltney added he has noticed a decline in 911 calls since that meeting.
Generally, Twin Lakes said it “is proud to serve the South Hill community and provide high-quality care to our residents.”
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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