Campbell County hospital discusses changes to the Legacy following resident deaths

GILLETTE — Nearly two months after the death of 88-year-old Judith Duvall in early January, the questions regarding the Legacy Living and Rehabilitation Center where she was housed are still on the minds of many.

Duvall, a member of the Memory Care Wing, died from “exposure/hypothermia,” according to Campbell County Coroner Paul Wallem. The Gillette Police Department is investigating this death, as well as the death of 66-year-old Rhonda Parker, who died of an overdose of a “known prescription medication,” Wallem said in February.

Since Duvall’s death, Campbell County Health has fired three employees related to the incident and terminated the services of the contract administrator of the Legacy. It also has closed new admissions to the facility until its issues are resolved.

Parker’s death led to one person being fired.

The pause on admissions is still in effect as of Friday, according to a press release sent out by the hospital.

The press release also noted that in March, all Legacy employees will begin Dementia Capable Care training, which is meant to help de-escalate incidents without the use of drugs.

For Gillette resident Sally White, it was important that the board and administration at CCH understood the divide between the hospital and the community after the circumstances of Duvall’s death, as well as other incidents related to the Legacy.

During her public comment at Thursday’s meeting, White pointed to a number of incidents at The Legacy that have eroded trust, mentioning a civil court case concerning the facility that found $660,000 in damages for a 2019 incident and a federal fine of $12,335, both assessed within the past year.

White went on to ask the board members how they will work to repair their strained relationship with the community.

“I have to ask you now how you will work to gain respect and trust and confidence in Campbell County Health and the Legacy within our community following these recent tragic events,” White said.

While unable to finish her public comment due to time constraints, CCH Chief Executive Officer Matt Shahan accepted a written version of her full comments to copy and send to the members of the board.

“We will continuously work to be better every day,” Shahan said in a press release. “We’re past the point of making promises and realize results are the only measure of success. We understand the long road ahead to rebuild the community’s trust. We have made drastic changes to meet the needs of our residents, and above all else, we will listen and make adjustments for their betterment. I want to commend our staff at The Legacy for their willingness to make the necessary changes to provide a better facility.”

Later in the meeting, Chief Human Resources Officer Dawn Marie Hodges noted in her report that the Legacy had recently undergone two surveys, one by a private group hired by CCH and one by the Wyoming Department of Health, with feedback coming from both on improvements made since early January.

Since then, the facility has received two complaints found to be unsubstantiated and one which may result in a minor citation, although a decision had not been made as of press time.

In her report, Hodges mentioned a number of positive comments from the state on improvements made since their initial survey following the January incident, with the surveyors finding them in full compliance in the followup and the facility receiving positive comments from the team lead.

“Tim (Cozad) has been our state surveyor for 10 years and he does not give compliments lightly,” Hodges said. “On Friday, when he exited the building, he said that he was impressed with how engaged staff were with the residents, how positive the interactions were, and he described the changes at the care center since January as profound. I think that that is high praise for the changes we’re making at the Legacy.”

“We are committed to continually working with various outside resources for constant process improvement,” Shahan said. “We welcome all feedback, whether from families, residents, state or federal surveyors, or outside consultants that we bring in to guide our process improvements.”

Board Chair Tom Murphy declined to comment on the specifics concerning the Legacy Thursday, but he did say that a solution for high-quality care workers is going to come from the relationship between the hospital and the local community.

“It was two weeks ago that we had a summit meeting in here with all the elected officials in our community, talking about where they were going and what they were doing,” Murphy said. “We all felt that Gillette people take care of Gillette people, and that a really good solution to our problem with The Legacy is to let our young people know that there’s a pathway to a really good job and caring way to make a living. That would help the situation that we experienced in the last month or two.”

This story was published on March 4, 2025.