Nov 15, 2013 3 min read

The administrator of a Clarksville personal care home said she and her staff are “devastated” about the death of a resident who was exposed to fumes caused by the accidental mixture of chemicals in the home Nov. 8.

“We lost a family member,” said Georgetta Stotka, co-owner and administrator of the Advanced Personal Care Home at 245 Center St. “You can’t live with, and take care of someone, every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week without them becoming part of your family.”

Jeanne Carr, 71, died Monday at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, after being exposed to fumes at the home the morning of Nov. 8. She was from the Carmichaels area.

The cause of death was attributed to chloramine exposure and complications from congestive heart failure and chronic pulmonary respiratory disease, said a spokesman for the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office. The death was ruled accidental.

Three others were taken to the hospital as the result of the incident. Another resident of the home and Stotka’s brother-in-law, were evaluated at the hospital and released, Stotka said. A staff person, who has asthma, was kept overnight, she said.

The fumes were caused by a mixture of chemicals that had been used in a clogged toilet in a bathroom adjacent to Carr’s room.

A staff member had unsuccessfully tried to unclog the toilet with a snake that morning and then used bleach to clean up, adding a small amount of bleach to the toilet bowl to help dissipate the odor, Stotka said.

Stotka said she included unclogging the toilet on a list of chores for her husband and left to take a resident to a doctor’s appointment. Her brother-in-law, however, stopped at the home before her husband arrived there, saw the list and decided to unclog the toilet himself.

Stotka said her brother-in-law tried to unclog the toilet with a plunger and when that didn’t work he poured a drain cleaner into it, not knowing bleach was in the bowl. This caused the formation of the noxious fumes.

Residents of the home were evacuated immediately even though the fumes were restricted to the area of the home near the bathroom, Stotka said.

Residents were taken to the Clarksville fire hall two doors away.

Firefighters from the Clarksville Volunteer Fire Co. responded and assisted in the evacuation, Stotka said.

The home’s primary care physician was at the home at the time and was able to check the residents’ health, she said. In addition, Greene County mental health staff came to assist residents, many of whom have mental health problems.

Stotka thanked everyone who was involved in the effort, noting any issues residents might have had regarding their mental or physical health could be addressed quickly. “Our staff, the community, everybody gave 100 percent to make sure everyone was safe,” she said.

The state Department of Public Welfare was at the home Wednesday and is investigating the incident. No further information was available Friday, a DPW spokeswoman said.