As the state takes over the operation of two assisted-living facilities in Westbrook due to the owner’s financial problems, Westbrook’s director of emergency medical services hopes to see a new plan in place for dealing with emergency situations.

Deputy Chief Ron Jones said he’s still waiting to hear back from the state as to whether it will develop a plan to transport, house and care for the 50-some residents of Rocky Hill Manor and Dolley Farm Residential Care, in an emergency situation – something that, he said, the owner failed to do.

Rocky Hill Manor and Dolley Farm Residential Care were two of seven facilities in Maine taken over by the state earlier this month from Connecticut-based Eagle Landing Residential Care LLC, due to financial problems that were causing bills to go unpaid and, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, threatening the welfare of residents in the home.

Jones said after the Patriot’s Day storm in April 2007, the facilities relied heavily on rescue workers to evacuate and transport residents. He said he recommended at the time installing generators in the building, so that the facilities could be as self-sufficient as possible.

Gail Sasseville, the receiver appointed by the state, said generators have not yet been installed and that the company does not have the money to install them now, but they are on the list of eventual improvements that need to be made to the facilities.

Documents filed in Kennebec County Superior Court earlier this month listed problems with food delivery service, empty oil tanks and electricity and phone service, among the many due to the owner’s financial problems.

Sifwat Ali, chief executive officer of Eagle Landing, which owes the state around $400,000 in back taxes and around $793,500 in MaineCare overpayments, said last week Eagle Landing’s financial problems stem from reduced income due to lack of patients another facility it owns, Penobscot Nursing Home.

Gerald Frenette, administrator at the homes, last week said residents didn’t experience a drop in service and were unaware of the financial turmoil at the company. Administrators felt it was their duty to do what they could to keep the problems from impacting residents, he said, including finding new vendors when prior vendors would not deliver due to lack of payment.

Sasseville said there is a plan in place for evacuating residents, which is to transport them to whatever shelters the city provides.

Jones, who said the state never informed the city that it was taking over operations of the facilities, said he hasn’t seen a plan and would like to know what role the city is expected to play in evacuating, transporting and housing the residents in an emergency – some of whom require rescue vehicles just to be transported. If there’s a city-wide emergency situation, Jones said, ambulances are in high demand.

“No city has the resources to take care of every need of every person,” he said.