Jill Porter: Channel your fury over Lavin case to change assisted-living regulations

YOU'RE NOT alone if you're still haunted by the fact that Rosalind Lavin got off so easy.

You're not alone if you think she should have been criminally prosecuted for the horrific conditions endured by the residents of her personal-care homes.

I continue to be contacted by readers appalled that Lavin, who lives lavishly on the Main Line, was able to get away with paying $700,000 and avoid acknowledging wrongdoing to resolve a federal investigation.

Last week's settlement also required Lavin to close the Ivy Ridge home, the fourth of her facilities to be shuttered in recent years, for sickening conditions - including residents who lay in vomit and feces on filthy linen, without enough food or medicine.

But Lavin isn't the only personal-care provider who takes advantage of the vulnerable and dependent individuals who live in these homes.

There are 110 personal-care and assisted-living facilities in the city; every one of them - every one of them - has been cited for violating state regulations, according to the Department of Public Welfare's Web site.

A third are operating with provisional licenses.

At least one is operating on a second provisional license, because it didn't correct the violations from the first provisional license.

Granted, some of the violations are technical and insignificant.

But others are serious - untrained personnel administering medicine, no criminal checks completed on staff, unsanitary conditions and fire hazards.

It's all a big mess.

The only good news is that the timing of the revelations gives you a chance to better protect thousands of residents in another category of licensed facilities: assisted-living homes.

That includes my own mother.

At the moment, these homes don't need to be air-conditioned - despite residents with severe breathing disorders, or those on psych meds that are affected by excessive heat.

The hallways - believe it or not - don't have to be wheelchair-accessible.

Residents can be evicted arbitrarily, even if they have nowhere to go.

Alissa Halperin is fighting for more stringent regulations, and hopes the Lavin scandal has enlightened and enraged people enough to fight with her.

As senior attorney for the Philadelphia Health Law Project, Halperin has spent years trying to improve living conditions in personal-care and assisted-living facilities.

She's familiar with the Lavin homes.

"Lavin is part of a very well-heeled industry," she said."It's a huge lobby."