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A Sierra Vista assisted-living home for people with Alzheimer's disease has paid a $1,500 fine for abuse of a resident and not reporting abuse allegations to the Arizona Department of Heath Services.

It was one of three actions taken against Southern Arizona elder-care homes in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to reports released by the department in late January.

Villa Vista Alzheimer's Care agreed Nov. 27 to pay the civil penalty, the reports said.

Villa Vista serves 34 residents with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

A resident's finger was injured when it was caught in the wheel of a wheelchair while a caregiver was pushing him on Oct. 1, a department report said. Department investigators looking into that incident uncovered multiple complaints against the same caregiver from other staff members, according to their reports.

Employees told a department investigator that the caregiver, who is unnamed in the reports, smacked the resident in the ears and forehead and said to the resident, "What are you looking at, you stupid little (expletive)."

The staff members also reported observing the caregiver intoxicated on the job.

The company that owns Villa Vista, Carefree Senior Living of California Inc., issued a statement:

"As soon as the situation that violated Villa Vista's code of conduct was brought to management attention, management took all necessary steps to aggressively address the matter including immediately terminating any employee involved. The state of Arizona felt our response was timely and complete."

Separately, a $1,900 fine and a one-year provisional license were issued to Fountain Court LLC, 3731 N. Bear Creek Circle in Tucson, for failure to document health conditions in staff files, failure to ensure residents have updated service plans, and failure to ensure medication requirements were met for each resident, department reports said.

Department officials made several visits between July and November due to repeated deficiencies and failure to ensure the necessary changes were made on time, the reports said. The facility has nine residents.

Owner/manager Eula Drake disagreed that medications were not given out properly, and said Fountain Court will be getting its license back in a few weeks.

Licensees given provisional licenses can regain their normal license status after violations have been corrected.

"I don't think there is anyone who takes better care of my people than me and my caregivers," she said. "Their (Arizona Department of Health Services) investigations they do are written 100 times worse than they really are."

In another case, no fines were issued to Praying Hands Residential Care Home LLC, which has five residents at 2552 W. Solano Circle in Tucson, but a one-year provisional license was issued for failing to comply with the statutes and rules that govern assisted-living facilities, department reports said.

Department investigators found on Nov. 16 that residents were eating something other than what was written on the menu, reports said. Changes must be written on the menu, the reports said.

In addition, rotting and expired food was found in the refrigerator, and parts of the facility were in need of repair, department reports said.

"I didn't have a whole lot of deficiencies," said Betty Massengale, owner and manager of Praying Hands.

She agreed to the suspension because she owns three nursing homes and wasn't finding good help, so the suspension would give her a chance to address the situation.