Investigation finds home care agency failed to protect visiting nurse who died in Willimantic

A federal investigation following the death of a Connecticut visiting nurse found that the home care agency she worked for did not provide enough safeguards to protect her.

The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that Elara Caring, one of the nation's largest home-based care providers, failed to protect Joyce Grayson, who was killed on Oct. 28, 2023.

Michael Reese, the man accused of killing Grayson, has been charged with murder. Grayson, a visiting nurse, had an appointment with Reese at his residence, a halfway house for sex offenders in Willimantic.

Around 2 p.m., Willimantic police received a call asking them to check on Grayson after she missed several patient appointments. The caller said Reese was Grayson’s first appointment of the day and there had been no contact with her since early that morning.

Police eventually found Grayson's body in the padlocked basement of the Chapman Street home, and they found her cell phone in a bucket of liquid in the bathtub, according to the arrest warrant.

Grayson died of compression of the neck and her death was ruled a homicide, according to authorities.

Federal OSHA officials found that on the day of Grayson's death, and at times prior, Elara Caring "exposed home healthcare employees to workplace violence from patients who exhibited aggressive behavior and were known to pose a risk to others."

Jordan Health Care Inc. and New England Home Care Inc., who both did business as Elara Caring, have been cited for willful violation under the agency's general duty clause, officials said.

Feds cited the home care agency for "not developing and implementing adequate measures to protect employees from the ongoing serious hazard of workplace violence." Elara Caring was also cited for not providing work-related injury and illness records to OSHA within four business hours, as required by law.

The home care agency will have to pay over $163,000 in proposed penalties. You can read the citations below.

“Elara Caring failed its legal duty to protect employees from workplace injury by not having effective measures in place to protect employees against a known hazard and it cost a worker her life,” OSHA Area Director Charles D. McGrevy in Hartford said. “Workplace safety is not a privilege; it is every worker’s right.”

Because of the investigation's findings, Elara Caring will now have to implement and maintain necessary safeguards such as a comprehensive workplace violence program.

"Elara Caring could have reduced the hazard of workplace violence by, among other ways, performing root cause analyses on incidents of violence and near misses, providing clinicians with comprehensive background information on patients prior to home visits, providing emergency panic alert buttons to clinicians and developing procedures for the use of safety escorts for visits to patients with high-risk behaviors," the investigation reads.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Elara Caring said the citation is "unwarranted," and they plan to contest it "vigorously."

"Connecticut's Department of Correction, Board of Pardons and Parole, and Judicial Branch determined that the patient who allegedly murdered New England Home Care, Inc. nurse Joyce Grayson was safe for re-entry into the community. Post-release, state authorities were responsible for monitoring and managing the patient's activities. The death of Joyce Grayson was a tragedy, and we continue to grieve with the family," the spokesperson said.

Elara Caring provides home-based care with over 200 branches in 17 states, including five in Connecticut. These services include skilled home health, hospice care, personal care services, palliative care and behavioral health.