A long-term care facility where a 93-year-old woman died after being found “facedown in a snowbank” in the early morning Sunday had a one-star rating and safety violations, records show.
Windsor Locks Police Lt. Paul Cherniack confirmed Monday that Margaret Healey died after staff at Bickford Health Care Center found her outside in frigid temperatures about 40 feet from the facility. They began a search after they noticed her missing from her bed around 4:45 a.m., Cherniak said.
Police were called around 6:23 a.m., Cherniak said. By that point staff had found her and brought her inside. Staff told police that Healey, who had Alzheimer’s disease and had a history of wandering, had a pulse when they found her. EMTs recorded her death at 6:46 a.m.
Cherniak said the department was in “fact finding” mode concerning Healey’s death.
According to a preliminary report, police said the woman was “equipped with an alert device designed to activate when she exits a facility doorway without authorization or supervision.”
Police are investigating whether the device failed to work or whether staff failed to hear it.
The Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner said Monday that her cause of death is “Pending Further Studies” and the manner of her death is “Pending Investigation.”
“We are not pointing fingers at anyone,” Cherniack told the Courant. “We need to know if everything that was done was in their protocol and also reasonable and justifiable. When we look at it, there are big gaps there. We would like to know why.”
Police are still working to determine when staff found Healey, when she left the building and what happened in the time between then and when police arrived.
Cherniack said Monday that the investigation is continuing surrounding Healey’s death and includes the state Department of Public Health, which “would be fully engaged.”
Bickford Health Care Center officials declined to comment.
Potential investigation
Both the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the state Department of Public Health have previously fined Bickford Health Care Center for health care violations, records show. CMS fined Bickford $55,635 in 2025 and DPH fined the facility $13,380.
The state Department of Public Health said in a statement that it is prohibited from “disclosing or discussing the existence of an investigation until any such investigation is closed and findings are issued.”
“Our hearts go out to her family and friends,” DPH said.
State Rep. Jane Garibay, Windsor Locks Democrat and House chair of the Committee on Aging, said there are many unanswered questions in regard to the case and that she looked to the investigation to provide clarity.
“Was the ambulance called immediately when they found out she was missing, and the police?” she said. “Both should have been called. I am waiting for the facts.”
Garibay said the case is emotional for her as her brother, who was at the facility, died previously at the hospital from asphyxiation pneumonia. She said she did not pursue a wrongful death suit against the facility.
“It hits home to know another person’s family is suffering,” she said.
State Sen. Jeff Gordon, R-Woodstock, a physician and member of the Public Health Committee, said “this is a very sad situation and something we really need better understanding on from DPH.”
“For someone to wander and get out of the building,” he said. “To me, this means that DPH has to do a very thorough review of what went on at the facility.”
State Sen. Saud Anwar, co-chair of the Public Health Committee, agreed her death was tragic and concerning.
“While we are trying to do our due diligence of the cause of this death it is quite clear from the information that is available that being unprotected in extreme weather may have added to the stress on her body and subsequent demise,” Anwar said of Healey.
Anwar said it is also “quite concerning in the safety of a rehab facility a person can walk out and be exposed to the elements especially during extreme weather circumstances.
“It really will require investigation from the Department of Public Health as well as the federal agency to see what protocols failed in this situation,” he said.
Health care violations
Bickford received an overall one-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, records show, which is based on a nursing home’s “performance” in health inspections, staffing and quality measures.
The facility had 24 health citations over the last three years compared to the national average of 9.6, according to CMS, records show.
The facility was fined $55,362 in relation to violations following an investigation on March 14, 2025 when “the facility failed to report a deterioration in wound status to the physician, ensure wound care was completed in accordance with physicians orders, and ensure an air mattress was provided timely which resulted in a deterioration of a pressure ulcer,” records show.
DPH also fined the facility $7,600 for the same incident.
DPH and CMS also fined the facility following an investigation on Dec. 11, 2024 when “the facility failed to complete monthly maintenance checks to ensure resident’s bed frames were free from sharp/jagged edges in accordance with manufacturer’s recommendations resulting in a laceration to the leg requiring eight sutures,” according to a citation from DPH.
DPH fined the facility $6,200 and CMS $8,900, records show.
Garibay said “seniors are not at the top of people’s minds and are a forgotten generation.
“They deserve better,” she said.