3 Nursing Homes Say Problems Have Been Resolved : Health: Two facilities have changed hands since occurrences that drew advocacy group’s criticism. A third says the state cleared it in resident’s death.

Representatives of three Orange County nursing homes criticized in an advocacy group’s report on California’s elderly-care facilities said Thursday that the homes have cleared up health-care problems cited by the group.

Two of the nursing homes, Sterling Health Care Center in Anaheim and Harbor Health Care in Fullerton, are now under new ownership or management.

The third, the John Douglas French Center for Alzheimer’s Disease in Los Alamitos, was cleared by the state Department of Health Services of responsibility in the death of a resident, the center’s administrator said. State health officials were unable Thursday to confirm that statement.

In a report issued Wednesday, the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform included Sterling Health Care Center and Harbor Health Care in a list of the 10 most “deficient” nursing homes in the state in 1991-92.

M.D. Adelman, executive vice president for Care Net Inc., the new owner of Harbor Health Care, said Thursday that the report gave an unfair impression of the facility’s current status.

“You’re talking about last year’s numbers and different ownership,” Adelman said. “We concur with what happened last year, but ownership has changed, management has changed and our reputation has changed.”

A Sterling Health Care spokeswoman likewise said her facility changed ownership late last year and has improved its status with the state health department.

Both facilities, their representatives said, faced the loss of state certification and vital government medical aid payments last year because of numerous deficiencies cited by the health department, but were saved when different corporations took control.

The report also questioned whether the low number of citations--two--issued against Orange County’s 67 nursing homes from July, 1991, to July, 1992, reflected a lack of sufficient enforcement.

State health officials acknowledge that the number is far below other counties and say they are investigating.

On Thursday, department spokeswoman Maggie DeBow said a recent report found that 16 citations were levied against Orange County facilities from October, 1992, through June.

“I would guess (the increase) is because we have had additional surveyors hired and they have received additional training in citation writing,” DeBow said.

The two citations issued, according to the advocacy group, were against the John Douglas French center in connection with the resident death and against Flagship Health Care Center in Newport Beach.

A spokesman for Flagship could not be reached for comment.

Ferri Kadine, administrator of the John Douglas French center, said Thursday that she knew nothing about a citation from the state concerning the October, 1991, fatal incident in which a woman with Alzheimer’s fell down stairs after pushing open a door that the fire marshal required to be open.

She said a health department investigation cleared the center of responsibility in the death, but department officials said Thursday that they were not immediately able to locate the report on the death and could not confirm whether the center was cited for a serious violation.