The operators of a West Raleigh adult care home, Pine Tree Villa, have told residents they have 30 days to move out, paving the way for renovations designed to attract a better-paying group of residents.

The more than 50 residents of the facility on Duraleigh Road heard the news in meetings last week. But state and county officials said the oral notice violates state rules that require homes to tell residents in writing and give them 30 days warning.

Residents were told they will get help finding new homes and will be allowed to return when $1.4 million in renovations -- including a spa and sprinkler system -- are complete in three and a half months.

Some residents have already found new places, while others are looking for homes that will take them, either temporarily or for good.

The president of the resident association says the news has been upsetting to many of the elderly residents.

"Some of these residents can't handle the constant change -- routine is everything," said Holly Harper, who heads the association. "One of my tablemates has been in tears. She's up at the nurse's station and crying and wanting someone to tell her it's OK."

Harper said Friday that staff members, faced with the shutdown of Pine Tree Villa, have begun to neglect residents, but representatives of the home said their first concern is residents' welfare.

Charles E. Trefzger, a Hickory lawyer, is the licensed operator of Pine Tree Villa and more than a dozen other North Carolina adult care homes. He said residents are being asked to leave temporarily for their own safety. Upon the home's planned reopening in October, Trefzger said, he wants to attract more residents who can pay out of pocket to live there, in addition to those whose bills are paid by Medicaid at a lower rate.

"I try to have a nice facility so that I can have both private-pay and Medicaid folks living together," Trefzger said. "And in so doing, you can afford to provide care to both payer sources."

A Wake County human services official said moves of this kind can cause depression, anxiety and even death for residents.

"Transition for people in adult care homes is so traumatic," said Gail Holden, director of Senior and Adult Services for Wake County. "That move can cause so much anxiety and depression that they cannot accommodate the change, and they die."

Records show that county human services workers have issued Pine Tree Villa 17 "corrective actions" since June 2006, when Trefzger took over its operation. The actions are issued when inspectors find lapses in care. At Pine Tree Villa, the lapses ranged from medication mistakes to a failure to keep residents free from abuse.

Telling residents

Now county and state officials are contending that Pine Tree Villa did not follow state rules when it initially told residents orally about the coming disruption.

"Under the law, the residents have to have a 30-day notice of discharge and a form that advises them of their appeal rights," Holden said.

Shannon Kelly, administrator of the care home since April, said some residents got written notices dated Thursday, a week after the initial meeting in which the news was announced. But Harper said her notice did not come until Friday, after an N&O reporter called the home.

Harper and Kelly agreed that the first meeting designed to break the news did not go well. Residents and family members wanted to know why they were being asked to leave now.

Harper said Kelly told the residents that she had a dream about an accident in the care home, and therefore residents were better off moving: "She had a dream that during construction one of the residents was hurt."

Kelly conceded Friday that she told residents of her dream, but only as one of the many factors that led to the decision to renovate and empty Pine Tree Villa.

"My meeting did not go very well," said Kelly, a registered nurse. "I had a couple of family members that were screaming at me. Their concern was, 'Have you been to any other assisted living facilities in this area? They don't have standards.' "

State inspectors were at the home Friday to make sure that any work being done complies with state regulations on renovating adult care homes. Pine Tree Villa is now promising to submit a written plan for its renovation, which it was required to do before starting work, said Jeff Horton, chief operating officer of the Division of Facility Services.

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