State reports dozens of complaints filed against Union Printers Home in 2019 by residents

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - As State Department officials continue their investigation into the death of an elderly woman found outside a local nursing home, we are learning that several residents filed complaints with the state.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment website, residents filed 43 complaints against Union Printers home in 2019. Those complaints allege physical and emotional abuse, neglect, as well as allegations that property and money was stolen from residents.

State records also show some workers were fired and others had to receive additional training.

Janet Scofield who has been living at the facility for 10 months and says she lived on the same floor as the 90-year-old woman who died, Margarita Sam. Scofield says in the short time she has lived at the facility she has filed grievances against the facility saying she thinks there aren't enough staff to take care of residents.

"We need adequate staffing to provide the level of care that they are telling people that their loved ones are going to have and no one gets it," Scofield says.

Despite all the complaints from residents, there are currently no state sanctions against Union Printers Home.

We spoke to one woman in Colorado Springs who was heartbroken when she heard what happened to Sam. Sarah McMillian tells us the news hit hard because it reminded her of her own mother. She was living at the nursing home in August of last year when she was left outside for three hours in 90-degree heat.

"When someone did discover her she was non-responsive," McMillian says. "They did everything they could to wake her up but got concerned so they called an ambulance."

At the hospital, McMillian's mother was diagnosed with pneumonia and a severe sunburn. When she asked administrators about the incident, "Everbody basically blew me off," McMillian says. "When I spoke with the staff I was run around again over and over again, everyone downplayed it."

After her mother was released from the hospital, McMillian made the decision to remove her from the home.