Fallout continues with shut down senior care facility

A laundry list of complaints and accusations forced a Cape Coral senior home to close down. It’s been more than two months since the Woodlands Assisted Living Facility was permanently closed.

Everyone who called the facility home got relocated.

Some were moved to places that take their loved ones hours to drive to.

After families learned of the appalling living conditions that got the facility shut down, leaky pipes, no hot water, sexual assault that went unreported, residents wandering away, and bed bugs, the struggles have only intensified.

• RELATED: Horror stories from inside shut down assisted living facility

Two families WINK spoke with last November said there were no openings at care facilities in southwest Florida, so their loved ones were sent hours away from here.

One man was only able to see his wife one more time before she passed away last week.

Barney Brenner has been battling bladder cancer, and visiting his wife Sherry at the facility in Cape Coral was much easier than driving three and a half hours north to the facility she was transferred to after the state forced the Woodlands to close.

• RELATED: Woodlands Assisted Care Facility closes due to appalling living conditions

He tried seeing her twice last Thursday, but it was too late.

“We got there, and I just got there five minutes too late. She passed away,” Brenner said.

Brenner said his wife had stage 7 dementia and Alzheimer’s.

The nurse told him hearing is one of the final things to go, so he shared with WINK his final message to his wife.

“You’ll always be on my thoughts, and you just, you know, rest in peace. Your fight’s over. Go enjoy your friends up there, and don’t try to be too loud because God might kick you out,” he said.

Sherry isn’t suffering anymore. That’s what helps Brenner find peace, but his reflections uncover frustrations over how she was treated and how the facility still has never reached out to him after the state forced them to close.

“I get a feeling that there’s a lot of people like that in the world that just really don’t care. Not a voicemail, not a letter, nothing,” he said.

And Brenner isn’t alone.

Michelle Gallo’s 92-year-old mother was forced to find a new assisted living facility after the Woodlands was shut down.

Michelle is also battling cancer and carries a lot of guilt over the way her mother has been treated.

“I feel like a failure as a daughter. I feel like I haven’t done anything for my mom. When my father passed away, he said the one thing he wanted me to do was to take care of my mom, and I feel like I can’t do that,” Michelle said.

Michelle also said Woodlands Assisted Living Facility still has never reached out to her to this day.

She’s filing a complaint against the facility and against her insurance company with the state.

As for Brenner, he said he’s considering speaking with an attorney.

He said he doesn’t want to get rich. He just wants the people who ran the facility held accountable.