22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY FEBRUARY 6-12, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com sel and co-appellate counsel in a landmark elder abuse case, Delany v. Baker in 1999. The case established that the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act applies to nursing homes as well as health care providers. “The clients change, the bad guys change—it’s almost the same scenario, understaffing undertraining, profits over people,” he says. “As I’m at the waning part of my career it’s a little depressing,” he adds. “It’s like a finger in the dyke, that’s all it’s been.” He acknowledges that he has helped families over the years seeking justice for their loved ones who received inadequate care. Pacific Grove Senior Living residents haven’t given up on finding the leverage needed to force Pacifica to make changes. It’s a momentum toward change that was in part started by Bob Sadler, a former resident who moved into P.G. Senior Living in April 2023 with his wife, Sharon. Sadler became an outspoken critic, dissatisfied with life there after having been promised a luxury living experience. “You’re marketing this as a luxury resort place,” he said during a residents’ meeting last year when Pacifica Regional Vice President Beau Ayers visited. “State regulations are there trying to keep people from dying. We want a luxury resort, as advertised.” Ayers responded with a sarcastic edge: “So we should change the advertising to subpar, OK.” Sadler worked diligently as a leader in the residents’ council during his time there. He developed surveys for residents to log their complaints about food quality. He publicly posted complaints on social media sites like Nextdoor. He came to Jacques’ defense and alerted the media to her plight. He followed up with multiple emails about her case, as well as sending emails about problems at Pacifica, and at The Park Lane. His advocacy for residents was a thorn in the side of Pacifica officials. Residents say Windbigler went up to Sadler’s apartment and asked him to stop the bad publicity—it wasn’t going to help them attract new residents and bring in money to fix issues. Sadler told Windbigler if they fixed the problems the bad press would stop. On Sept. 25, Sadler sent an email to his neighbors with the news that he and Sharon were reluctantly moving out. “The pipe issue discussed at our last meeting was in our apartment. We have not filed a complaint; however, we have decided to move out of the community,” he wrote. The lengthy email described how they had contended with leaky pipes in the walls for weeks, with maintenance people making access holes attempting to reach and patch the old pipes. No matter how many repairs were made, the pipes continued to leak, including in an upstairs apartment. A plumber told Sadler the pipes were part of a very old radiator system. “The only real solution is to shut down this whole main building and replace the plumbing. Pacifica has said they won’t make that investment. They are going to replace the plumbing one emergency at a time,” he wrote. “We were going to file a complaint with the state, but we knew it would get no more attention than the other complaints that are dropped after a lightweight investigation.” They left in mid-October for a home in Del Mesa Carmel, an active 55-plus community in Carmel Valley. Sadler died on Nov. 29 after a sudden medical episode. He was 80. “I can’t believe Bob is gone,” a resident wrote to the Weekly after his passing. “When I told Jean Jacques, the first words she said were, ‘I will pray for him.’ She did not moan about the loss to her, but she thought of Bob first. I was touched.” ASKED AND ANSWERED How and where to find more information if you’re considering a retirement community. If you’re looking for a senior living or care facility for yourself or a loved one, it pays to ask lots of questions and check the facility’s complaint record with the California Department of Social Services, or in the case of skilled nursing, with the California Department of Public Health. There are two good sources for exhaustive lists of questions, the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform and DSS. You can find a whole list of fact sheets, including questions to ask and evaluation checklists, for a variety of facilities on the CANHR website at www.canhr. org/nursing-home-fact-sheetsenglish. The DSS website has a long list of questions to ask at: www. cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/ community-care/continuing-care/questions-to-ask. To start a facility search with DSS go to www.ccld.dss.ca.gov/ carefacilitysearch. For CDPH, bit.ly/CDPHsearch. 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