Opinion ID: 2346536
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Monetary Penalty

Text: [¶ 12] DHS imposed a monetary penalty against the Reardons pursuant to 22 M.R.S.A. § 7944(1)(C) [4] based upon the finding that three residents had received assisted living residential care services [5] for compensation at Riverside Care Home from June 22 until June 26, 2001. The Reardons contend that the third adult staying at Riverside Care Home between June 22 and 26, 2001 should not be counted as a resident because she was there only on a temporary basis and slept in a nearby recreational vehicle at night instead of the home. DHS responds that the third adult was suffering from advanced dementia and required twenty-four hour care; she spent a good portion of each day receiving assisted living services in the facility, and thus was properly deemed a resident of the facility regardless of whether she may have slept in the recreational vehicle. [¶ 13] A resident is defined as any person 18 years of age or older, who is not the spouse of the owner or resident manager, who is receiving, in addition to room and board, residential care services [6] for compensation in an AFCH. 10-144 CODE ME. R. ch. 101, § 2.01-9 (1996). This rule does not require a minimum number of days or minimum amount of residential care services, room, and board that a person must receive at a residential care facility before becoming a resident. The fact that the Reardons may have had the elderly woman sleep at night in a recreational vehicle in their driveway does not ameliorate the fact that she was receiving residential services at the facility. Thus, DHS neither made an error of law nor abused its discretion in imposing a penalty of $500 per day for five days upon the Reardons for operating an unlicensed residential care facility during June 2001. The entry is: Judgment affirmed.