CORPUS CHRISTI – We begin tonight with a Troubleshooters story about senior care homes in Corpus Christi.
An elderly man tells us he took his wife to a local senior care home, but took her out after 5 days.
Total cost? $4000.00.
He believes he’s owed a refund, so he called the Troubleshooters for help getting it.
‘I’m gonna cry. They told me ‘get her out of here.’ The workers. “Get your wife out of there ’cause this lady is crazy.”
You could call this a love story.
Higinio and Olga Salazar are both 86 years old.
And have been married 64 years.
Mr. Salazar says that in July, his wife fainted at home, and had to be hospitalized.
She stayed there for 3 days.
He says while there, he met Ann Perez, who told him she ran Graceful Living Senior Care, out of her home on Carmel Parkway.
“She said if you go to my place, I’m the cheapest one in Corpus,” Mr. Salazar recalled.
So he and his son paid Perez $4000.00 for one month and moved his wife in.
Salazar says he wanted to stay with his wife at the home, but claims Perez told him he couldn’t, for legal purposes, unless “unless you pay me $5000.00.”
About a week later, Salazar says he moved his wife out.
And that’s why he says he called the Troubleshooters, to help him get some kind of pro-rated refund from Perez.
The contract between the Salazar’s and Graceful Living states ‘resident shall provide graceful living with a 30-day notice of termination in writing when they intend to leave.’
Mr. Salazar says he did not do that.
442 Carmel Parkway is the address listed on the contract.
According to the City of Corpus Christi records, Ann Perez filed what’s called a DBA, ‘doing business as’ permit for Graceful Living at 442 Carmel Parkway on May 7th.
No one answered when we went there.
“Is Miss Perez here? No. Is this called Graceful Living? No.”
Now here is where this gets kind of interesting.
Mr. Salazar told us he believed Perez had moved to 450 Carmel Parkway, just next door from 442.
The man who owns 450 told us Perez has been renting his house for about a month now.
But he was unaware she was running her business out of it.
And there’s more.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission tells the Troubleshooters their records show an assisted living facility called Avalon Estates Assisted Living at 490 Carmel Parkway licensed to Ann Perez.
We knocked on the door.
“I’m trying to find Ann Perez. She doesn’t live here sir. Do they run Avalon Day Care out of here? She doesn’t run Avalon. She runs her own business down the street. Graceful, right ?”
The people at 490 Carmel Parkway acknowledge Perez did work there at one time.
We finally spoke with Ann Perez.
She claims she does not need a license to operate a 3- bed facility like Graceful Living.
She further explained that she told Mr. Salazar he could stay at the home with his wife for one month, free, even tho it would have been a violation of city ordinance.
She understood he was experiencing separation anxiety.
But Mr. Salazar chose to take his wife out without providing written notice of termination of the contract 30 days in advance as required.
So, according to Perez, a refund is unlikely.
