EASTON, Pa. – The level of care at Gracedale in recent years dropped far enough to prompt a downgraded license and Medicare rating – and a grand jury investigation into potential criminal charges.
The probe stopped short of blaming specific individuals, including Gracedale and county leaders, but it laid bare a series of institutional concerns that need attention, Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta said Thursday as he released a 71-page grand jury report.
Many of the issues identified by the panel are well-known, like Gracedale’s inability to meet minimum staff-to-patient ratios and its over-reliance on contracted nurses. They comprised about three-quarters of the county-run nursing home’s staff last year, according to the grand jury report.
An attempted exorcism by an agency nurse, and a delayed response by Gracedale workers and Upper Nazareth Township police, pushed Baratta to open the investigation in July 2025.
Octavia Robinson, 44, of Morristown, New Jersey, was charged that month with abuse of a care-dependent person and simple assault. She is scheduled to stand trial in October.
Robinson is accused of attacking an elderly Gracedale resident and trying to exorcise a demon from the woman in the early morning hours of June 23, 2025.
The woman’s roommates made three calls to 911, but police did not respond to the nursing home for more than 30 minutes, according to the grand jury report.
While investigating that reported assault, the district attorney's office learned of numerous other safety concerns, like a significant increase in quality-of-care problems over the past few years.
Medicare inspectors issued three inspection citations for minor deficiencies in 2023 and two in 2024. Gracedale was hit with 14 citations in 2025, including several for “serious failures,” the grand jury report states.
Those included the alleged attack by Robinson, fights between patients, and residents leaving the nursing home. Medicare inspections also took issue with basic food sanitation practices at the facility.
Baratta on Thursday said he released the 71-page report to give residents “transparency” and full “knowledge” about Gracedale's conditions so they can make an informed decision about whether to send a loved one there.
But he made clear he’s not urging people to steer clear of the county-run nursing home. Gracedale should still be on every family’s list, he said.
Officials at Gracedale and within Northampton County government are devoting their “full attention” to the concerns identified by the grand jury, Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski said shortly after Baratta released the report.
“Our residents and their families deserve honesty from their government, accountability from those entrusted with care, and clear evidence the county is taking action,” she said.
She pointed to her appointment of Thomas Carson to lead the Gracedale Continuum of Care as a transformative step for the facility and proof that officials are working to improve conditions there.
Carson, who joined in mid-August, is tasked with improving quality assurance, training and screening, recruiting more county-employed nurses, and addressing “systematic cultural issues that have developed over the last 20 to 30 years,” according to the first-year executive.
But Zrinski isn’t looking to restore Gracedale to its former glory; she’s pitching an ambitious plan to modernize the nursing home campus.
Her vision calls for a new skilled nursing home with almost 700 beds, and for the current facility to be renovated into apartments for residents.
Workforce housing and retail spaces are also part of that plan, which Zrinski said would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
She pledged to stabilize operations at Gracedale and secure funding for her modernization plan before any “shovel will go in the ground.”