Since an incident at Golden Pond Assisted Living on Sept. 30 when a deceased person’s room allegedly was heated to 99 degrees, the facility has seen nearly 30 medical transports, which Health Director Shaun McAuliffe said is “more than usual.”

While he could not specify the reason for the transports, McAuliffe noted that 21 were made from Golden Pond’s building at 50 West Main Street, while an additional eight transport calls took place at 60 Main Street in the last two weeks. He also noted that emergency personnel completed 11 of those transports on Oct. 4. 

The most recent of these incidents occurred on Friday. A resident requested assistance from public safety officials after reporting her room was at 86 degrees, according to the police log. Officers provided assistance, and McAuliffe reported the woman was transported to a hotel temporarily.

“The adjacent rooms had elevated temperatures,” McAuliffe said. Staff and fire personnel were able to open windows and return the rooms back to the 78-degree threshold as required by law in Massachusetts, he added.

The health director expressed concern over Golden Pond’s continued heating issues. “The building should not be capable of heating the rooms above 78 degrees Fahrenheit, so there is still something that still has yet to be adjusted or corrected in that heating system,” he said.

Issues for the assisted living facility began on Sept. 30 began after an 86-year-old resident was found dead in a room police reports describe as “uncomfortably hot.” Hopkinton Fire personnel on scene observed the thermostat in the woman’s room was reading 99 degrees at the time.

Golden Pond’s heating system reportedly had been turned on the day before the death, and it continued to have issues regulating the building’s temperature in the last few weeks, authorities said. The facility shut off its HVAC system following visits from town officials and was on track to have repairs completed on Oct. 15, McAuliffe told the Independent last week.

“I have not received any more complaints since Friday,” McAuliffe said. He explained that large buildings like Golden Pond take several days to “dial in” but stressed that there should be staff and professionals on hand to correct temperature swings immediately.

“I just don’t believe that they’re doing that,” said McAuliffe. “I think they’re responding rather than being proactive.”

Golden Pond affirmed in a previous statement that it was cooperating with regulatory agencies regarding the recent death and the heating issues. McAuliffe confirmed he had been in contact with Golden Pond director of operations Doug Noble, who has provided regular temperature logs for review. McAuliffe explained in a previous interview the logs are required as part of the ongoing response and investigation into the incident by the state’s Executive Office of Aging and Independence. 

“It’s really upon Doug and their HVAC contractor to figure out what is going wrong, and they have to come up with a plan to make sure there are no more [issues],” said McAuliffe.

The Board of Health plans to discuss the situation at its meeting Monday night.