Golden Pond was ordered on Friday to cease the admission of new residents to the facility following an inspection by state officials.

In a letter obtained by the Independent, Executive Office of Aging and Independence (AGE)’s assisted living certification and compliance unit director Patricia Marchetti issued the order to cease admissions. Marchetti’s letter stated the facility can continue to operate but only will be allowed to reopen admissions once AGE determines Golden Pond has met full compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

AGE has required Golden Pond to complete corrective actions and submit supporting documentation as a result of an inspection that took place earlier this week, according to the letter.

The assisted living facility must demonstrate and document actions it already has taken and future actions to address violations noted by the Hopkinton Board of Health. These include temperature logs, food safety corrections and final engineering/HVAC incident reports and after-action reports.

Other documentation AGE has requested includes completion of an operations review, staff training compliance certifications, oxygen use and storage policies, and resident transfer device and bed rail assessments.

According to a statement from AGE, Golden Pond staff were found to lack training around emergency preparedness, general orientation and lift device program training. The facility also did not have a policy for oxygen use and storage, nor did it have documentation confirming it had completed a required operations review.

Of concern for the agency as well was the lack of current assessments by either a physical therapist or occupational therapist for residents using transfer devices and bed rails.

In its statement, AGE stressed that ensuring the well-being of residents at assisted living facilities in the state is its top priority.

“AGE has been closely monitoring conditions at Golden Pond and, based on continued identified deficiencies, has ordered the facility to stop new admissions until all corrective action is taken,” the statement reads. “We will continue to monitor their progress to ensure the safety of all current and new residents.”

The agency also stated that the deficiencies found at Golden Pond “do not reflect an immediate risk to the health or safety of residents.”

AGE’s inspection followed the death of an 86-year-old resident of the facility on Sept. 30. Police reported that the deceased resident’s room was “uncomfortably hot,” with the thermostat allegedly reading 99 degrees when emergency personnel initially responded to the scene.

Elevated temperatures continued in the following weeks. The Hopkinton Health Department has inspected the site on multiple occasions and reviewed temperature logs kept by the facility to ensure a housing order of corrections it issued was followed. Golden Pond planned to have its HVAC system restored to working order by Oct. 15.

From the time of the Health Department’s first inspection on Oct. 1 to Oct. 16, emergency personnel completed nearly 30 medical transports from the facility. Health Director Shaun McAuliffe told the Independent earlier this week that number of transports was “more than usual.”

The Board of Health on Monday characterized the issues at Golden Pond as “unacceptably bad” and raised additional concerns about the organization’s food safety procedures.

McAuliffe told the Independent on Friday that he had not seen the AGE’s report related to the pause in Golden Pond’s admissions. He was able to report that a follow-up inspection of the facility’s food safety procedures showed Golden Pond had corrected most of the major violations found in a previous inspection.

The health director also said he had received information that the heating concerns at Golden Pond are not new. “I received a note today that this has been going on since 2017 — that the building heats up significantly in the shoulder season,” he said.

Added McAuliffe: “It’s just [that] unfortunately, this year’s been hotter.”

He said that while Golden Pond has addressed its critical food safety violations and has been cooperative, the Board of Health plans to meet soon to discuss the facility’s response to the housing order of corrections. McAuliffe noted the end result might be a hearing with Golden Pond officials.

“We will be working with the state to decide where we go after that,” he said.