The Communities at Golden Pond assisted living facility is allowed to accept new residents after the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs approved its corrective action plan in June to address numerous violations the facility received in March after a failed compliance review.

The state’s Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA) conducted a compliance review at Golden Pond, located at 50 West Main Street, on March 23, according to a letter dated May 22. The facility was ordered not to accept new residents “on or after May 4.” This review prompted a June visit from employees from the Assisted Living Certification Unit of the state Executive Office of Elder Affairs to Hopkinton to investigate conditions at the facility.

“Golden Pond’s plan of correction was accepted by EOEA, and they were re-certified” on June 28, shared EOEA communications and outreach manger Ellie Romano in an email this past Tuesday. “All corrective actions have been taken by Golden Pond.”

She added that “EOEA is planning a site visit to ensure compliance.”

The corrective action plan, requested via a public records request to the EOEA by the Independent on June 28, was received on July 26. It was filled out by Golden Pond staff on a template given to the facility by the EOEA. The person who filled out the plan’s details was not identified in the 17-page document. The document noted a completion date of June 12 for addressing the violations.

One violation cited missing documentation on 11 patients whose medication administration was being overseen in SAMM, or Self Administered Medication Management processes. This prompted a house audit of SAMM documents and a retraining of staff.

Another violation addressed residents waiting more than 10 minutes for a response to an emergency call. The emergency call system is supposed to be monitored for 90 days, and the staff is required to monitor response times.

For these and other violations, staff retraining and better record-keeping practices were initiated by Golden Pond as detailed in the corrective action plan.

The Independent previously reached out to Michael Volpe, Golden Pond’s executive director, for comment on the violations found by the state during the March audit and if plans for rectifying the situation had been completed. The Independent also reached out for this article to verify that the actions described in the corrective plan were completed. Volpe did not return any calls or emails.

In an email sent to Golden Pond residents on May 19 (and obtained by the Independent), Volpe explained that the staffing and infection control challenges of running the facility during a pandemic led to the occurrence of these violations.