101-year-old woman evicted from Santa Rosa assisted living home dies

Jun. 29--Mabel Barnfield, the 101-year-old woman who was forced to leave Sonoma County in April when she ran out of money and was evicted from a local assisted living facility, has died two weeks after advocates banded together to return her to Santa Rosa.

Barnfield had been forced to move to a Novato nursing home because no such facility in Sonoma County would take her. The story of her plight prompted the creation of a group, dubbed Mabel's Angels, that found a Santa Rosa skilled nursing home to accept her.

On June 13, Barnfield returned to Santa Rosa and was admitted to Creekside Rehabilitation and Behavioral Health. She died Thursday afternoon at the nursing home.

Her sister, Betty James, 90, said she was thankful Barnfield was back in Santa Rosa when she died, and that she was able to see her more frequently in recent days.

"Isn't that a blessing," James said. "If she was that far away, it would have been horrible."

James said she spent about an hour and a half with her older sister the day before Barnfield died. "That was good," James said Thursday. "I didn't go in today. I didn't want to see her that way. I would rather remember the way she was when I went to see her."

A week after she returned to Santa Rosa, local attorney Heather Campopiano and private fiduciary Heidi Meier-Darling joined James on a visit to the Creekside nursing home to see Barnfield. Campopiano and Meier-Darling were instrumental in getting Barnfield back in Santa Rosa.

Campopiano, who specializes in elder law and estate planning, launched an effort she coined Mabel's Angels after reading about Barnfield's eviction. She recruited Meier-Darling, who called several nursing homes in Santa Rosa until she found a receptive administrator at Creekside.

"Heidi called me and asked if we'd be willing and we said, 'sure, no problem,'" said Alan Herber, the administrator at Creekside. "I'm glad we were able to accommodate. ... Novato is a long drive."

For the past six years, Barnfield had lived at Brookdale Fountaingrove, an assisted-living center in east Santa Rosa. The former real estate agent entered Brookdale after selling her home in the Bennett Valley area for $450,000.

The cost of living at Brookdale -- which eventually grew to $7,000 a month -- drained her bank account. After the sale of her home, she was left with $160,000 because she had to pay off a $250,000 loan she took out during the recession.

With no money left, Barnfield went on Medi- Cal, the state's Medicaid program. Brookdale, like other assisted-living facilities, is not certified to receive Medi-Cal financial reimbursements because it's not treating a medical need.

Skilled nursing homes, on the other hand, are considered a medical service. But local advocates for seniors say that many nursing homes resist taking too many Medi-Cal patients because the reimbursement is lower than private insurance or Medicare.

On April 19 -- the day after her eviction hearing -- Barnfield was moved to the Novato Healthcare Center nursing home.

Meier-Darling said it's unfortunate someone didn't advocate for Barnfield before her money ran out. It might have been possible to move her to a less-costly facility, she said.

"People don't realize that even a million dollars doesn't go a long way," she said.

The need for seniors to have someone to advocate for them was the reason Campopiano started Mabel's Angels, she said. Campopiano and Meier-Darling had been planning to set up a trust fund to help Mabel, and others like her, to pay for things that Medi-Cal doesn't pay for, such as slippers, pajamas and hygiene-related expenses.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.

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