GUILDERLAND CENTER — The two licensed practical nurses were seen by therapists at The Grand trying to forcibly administer medications to a patient who had refused them, said Bruce Gendron, regional vice president of The Grand Healthcare System. Both therapists immediately reported the incident to the facility’s administrators, Gendron said, and the LPNs were suspended on the spot and removed from the premises.

Erin Lupumpala, 34, of 46 Corthell St., Albany, and Emma M. Cerasoli, 35, of 20 Winne Pl., apartment 11, Glenmont, were arrested on March 15, charged under public-health law with physical abuse, neglect, or mistreatment — misdemeanors — according to arrest reports from the Guilderland Police Department.

The therapists had arrived to give treatment and walked in on the incident as it was occurring, Gendron said.

The arrests followed an investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office, according to a spokesman from the office. Each was charged with three counts of willful violation of health laws, in an incident that had occurred about a year earlier, on March 29, 2017, the spokesman said.

The facility’s management contacted the police and cooperated fully with the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Health, in their investigations, Gendron said. The Grand also conducted its own investigation, on the basis of which the two women’s employment was terminated, Gendron said.

The facility itself was not found to have done anything inappropriate, Gendron said. “It was the two LPNs who took it upon themselves to do this inappropriate thing,” he added. “It was witnessed by other members of our staff; we immediately took action and got them off the property and terminated their employment.”

Public health law stipulates that patients in nursing homes have a right to refuse treatment or medication after being fully informed of and understanding the consequences of doing so.

Speaking of the two nurses involved, Gendron said, “We haven’t really had anything to do with them since it happened. We suspended them immediately, and they never returned to our employment.”

The Grand got “good cooperation,” Gendron said, from the union, which often “tries to protect employees from a wrongful termination, in their eyes.” In this case, he said, “Once they saw our evidence, our investigation, the union also concurred that it was, obviously, an appropriate termination.

“Everything worked the way it should have worked, the second it was discovered,” Gendron said.

The two LPNs turned themselves in on existing arrest warrants lodged by the New York State Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, according to the arrest reports. It was not clear when the arrest warrant was issued.

The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Guilderland has been under new management by The Grand Healthcare System since October 2014; The Grand took ownership in November 2016. The facility, formerly the Guilderland Center Rehabilitation and Extended Care Facility, spent more than a year, starting in June 2015, on the “special focus facility” list of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, a list of the worst nursing homes.

The facilities on the “special focus” list are those with the most problems, more serious problems than others, and a persistent pattern of problems.

The Grand, which also runs five other facilities across the state, undertook a large-scale building renovation and made employment-related changes that included hiring more registered nurses as well as a full-time educator to create a training program for all staff.

The Grand was taken off the “special focus” list in November 2016.

Workers held an informational picket at The Grand in October 2017, saying that the facility had raised the starting salary for new licensed practical nurses and also for new certified nursing assistants, but had not raised the salary of those already in those positions, with the result that a new hire might make more than employees already there. They also said the facility over-relies on per-diem employees and that it is understaffed; there is often just one certified nursing assistant for 42 patients, during an overnight shift, one picket told The Enterprise.