1744.01 DEFINITIONS.
(a) "Group home" means any building, structure, home, facility or place operated by person(s) other than the residents themselves, in which three to sixteen unrelated persons reside for a period of more than twenty-four hours, and which is used or intended to be used for the purpose of letting rooms, providing meals and/or providing personal assistance, personal services, personal care and protective care but not skilled nursing care, designed to help the residents adjust to the community and society. Group homes may also provide personal assistance to no more than three residents per home. Group homes shall be further defined as follows:
(1) "Small group home" means a home in which personal service, personal assistance, personal care and/or protective care are provided to between three and five unrelated individuals, except those foster family homes licensed by child-placing agencies.
(2) "Medium group home" means a home in which personal service, personal care, protective care and/or personal assistance pursuant to Section 1744.11 are provided to between six and ten unrelated individuals. This shall include any and all foster homes.
(3) "Large group home" means a home in which personal service, personal care, protective care and/or personal assistance pursuant to Section 1744.11 are provided to between eleven and sixteen unrelated individuals. This shall include any and all foster homes. Such personal assistance, personal service, personal care and protective care may be further defined as follows:
A. "Personal service" means those services provided to residents of a group home by the certificate holder, operator and/or employees of the group home. Such services include but are not limited to the following:
1. Housekeeping and laundry service;
2. Social supervision;
3. Transportation assistance;
4. Assistance in seeking medical, dental and social services;
5. Meals.
B. "Personal assistance" means supervision as required and services including but not limited to help with walking, bathing, dressing, feeding or getting in or out of bed.
C. "Personal care" means protective care of a resident who does not require chronic or convalescent medical or nursing care. Personal care involves responsibility for the safety of the resident when in the building. Fraternity houses and sorority houses shall not be included in this definition.
D. "Protective care" includes but is not limited to a daily awareness by the management of the resident's functioning, his or her whereabouts, the making and reminding a resident of appointments, the ability and readiness to intervene if a crisis arises for a resident, supervision in areas of nutrition and medication and actual provision of transient medical care.
(b) "Group home" does not include the residence of related individuals, nursing or rest homes as defined in Chapter 1743 of the Codified Ordinances, child-care centers, rooming homes, or "independent living" in which residents themselves operate the facility.
(c) "Group home" includes but is not limited to facilities commonly known as three quarter-way homes, halfway houses, transitional residences, runaway or temporary shelters, mental health homes, custodial and diagnostic homes, convalescent homes, boarding homes and foster homes and community alternative homes. Fraternity houses and sorority houses shall not be included in this definition.
(d) The Chief Enforcement Officer, Department of Building and Housing Code Administration, Department of Public Works, is the public official responsible for administration and enforcement of the Housing Code of the City as defined in Ordinance 85-226.
(e) "At risk" means any individual who, because of age, physical condition and/or mental condition has a diminished capacity and/or a diminished ability to meet the ordinary demands of life.
(f) "Board of Health" means the authorized Board of Health for the City Health District as provided by Ohio R.C. 3709.07.
(g) "Employee" or "staff" means any person employed by another for wages or salary under any contract of hire where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how the work is to be performed.
(h) "License holder" means any person who possesses or is required to possess a license for a group home, pursuant to this chapter.
(i) "Health Commissioner" means the legally designated Health Commissioner of the City Health District or the Commissioner's authorized representative(s).
(j) "Occupancy" means official permission to use a building for the stated and intended purpose as provided on the official license application.
(k) "Operator" means any person who manages, controls or otherwise performs the day-to-day tasks of operating a group home, regardless of whether such person is the license holder.
(l) "Person" means any individual, partnership, association, syndicate, company, firm, trust, corporation, government corporation, department, bureau, agency or any other entity recognized by law.
(m) "Client" or "resident" means any unrelated individual residing in a group home who is receiving personal assistance, personal care, personal service or protective care.
(n) "Skilled nursing care" means those procedures employed in providing for the physical, emotional and rehabilitation needs of the ill or otherwise incapacitated which require technical and therapeutic intervention skills, the ability to plan, implement and evaluate beyond that which the untrained person possesses; including but not limited to procedures such as: irrigations, catheterizations, applications of dressings; planning and supervision of special diets; objective observations of changes in patient(s) as a means of analyzing, determining and providing care required and the need for further medical diagnosis and treatment, special procedures contributing to rehabilitation; administration of medication by any method ordered by a physician, such as hypodermically, rectally or orally; and carrying out other treatments prescribed by the physician which involve a like level of complexity and skill in administration.
(o) "Fraternity house" means a home, residence, structure or facility in which a group of people is associated or formally organized for a common purpose, interest or pleasure, as:
(1) A Fraternal order;
(2) Guild;
(3) A men's student organization formed chiefly for social purposes having secret rites and a name consisting of Greek letters and which may or may not be affiliated with a university;
(4) A student organization for scholastic, professional or extracurricular activities.
(p) "Sorority house" means a home, residence, structure or facility in which a group of people is associated or formally organized for a common purpose, interest or pleasure, as:
(1) A women's social order;
(2) Guild;
(3) A club of women, specifically, a women's student organization, as at a college, formed chiefly for social purposes and has a name consisting of Greek letters and which may or may not be affiliated with a university;
(4) A student organization for scholastic, professional or extra-curricular activities.
(q) "Substitute operator" means any person who is empowered or otherwise legally authorized to take the place of any person who manages, controls or otherwise performs the day-to-day tasks of operating a group home, regardless of whether such person is the license holder.
(r) "Unrelated individual" means a person who is not related to the owner or operator of a group home or to his/her spouse as a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, sibling, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle or as the child of an aunt or uncle.
(s) "Unusual incident" means any actual or alleged occurrence of destructive behavior, physical restraint, injury or death of a resident; or any injury sustained by an employee of a group home willfully or accidentally caused by a resident or employee. "Unusual incident" includes but is not limited to the following:
(1) Suicide or attempted suicide.
(2) Accidental death regardless of cause including apparent or possible homicide.
(3) Any suspicious or unusual death as a result of criminal or violent means.
(4) Sudden adverse change in a resident's or operator's health.
(5) Alleged criminal act of an employee involving a resident committed on facility grounds or while performing occupational duties.
(6) Death by natural causes as verified by County Coroner.
(7) Alleged criminal act of a resident which may result in an arrest.
(8) Property damage.
(9) Serious injury caused by another person, whether another resident, employee, or any other person.
(10) Accidental injury.
(11) Drug overdose. Adverse drug reaction.
(12) A medication error that results in serious consequences for a resident.
(13) Hospitalization of a resident.
(14) Actions of a resident which pose a threat to the safety and well-being of others.
(15) Serious illness that requires medical treatment.
(16) Extended and unauthorized absence of a resident.
(17) Removal of the resident from the facility by any person or agency other than the placing agency.
(18) Confirmed abuse/alleged abuse.
(19) Fire, theft, etc.
(20) Physical or chemical restraint.
(t) "Admission agreement" means a written statement of services provided, and rights and responsibilities of both parties, and signed by the resident and the license holder.
(u) "Gross abuse" means knowingly causing serious physical harm to a person by physical contact with the resident.
(v) "Abuse" means knowingly causing physical harm or recklessly causing serious physical harm to a resident by physical contact with the resident or by the inappropriate use of a physical or chemical restraint, medication or isolation on the resident; or the unreasonable confinement or intimidation of a resident, or the infliction of injury or cruel punishment upon a resident, resulting in physical harm, pain or mental anguish.
(w) "Gross neglect" means knowingly failing to provide a resident with any treatment, care, goods or service that is necessary to maintain the health or safety of the resident when the failure results in physical harm or serious physical harm to the resident.
(x) "Neglect" means recklessly failing to provide a resident with any treatment, care, goods or service that is necessary to maintain the health or safety of the resident, when the failure results in serious physical harm to the resident, or the failure to provide a resident with the goods or services necessary to prevent physical harm, mental anguish or mental illness.
(y) "Exploitation" means the unlawful or improper utilization of an adult resident or his/her resources for personal or monetary benefit, profit or gain.
(z) "Physical restraint" includes but is not limited to, the locked door of a room or any article, device or garment that interferes with the free movement of the resident and that he/she is unable to remove easily.
(aa) "Inappropriate use of a physical or chemical restraint, medication or isolation" means the use of physical or chemical restraint, medication or isolation as punishment, for staff convenience, excessively, as a substitute for treatment, or in quantities which preclude habilitation and treatment.
(bb) "Family foster home" means a private residence in which from one to a maximum of five foster children are given nonsecure care and supervision twenty-four hours a day for hire, gain or reward by a person who is unrelated to such children by blood or marriage or who is not the appointed guardian of such children.
(cc) "Foster care" means full time but temporary care given to children who are unable to remain in their own homes.
(dd) "Individual habilitation plan (IHP)" means a written plan of intervention and action that is developed on the basis of a comprehensive evaluation. It specifies goals and objectives and identifies a continuum of development, outlining projected progressive steps and the developmental consequences of services.
(ee) "Chemical restraint" means any medication bearing the American Hospital Formulary Service Therapeutic Class 4.00, 28:16:08, 28:24:08, or 28:24:92 that alters the functioning of the central nervous system in a manner that limits physical and cognitive functioning to the degree that the resident cannot attain his highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being.
(ff) "Universal precautions" means a procedure to prevent and control the development and transmission of infections and disease consistent with the guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the prevention of transmission of human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B virus to health-care and public safety workers.
(gg) "Pre-licensure activity" means the period of time that the Health Department receives the application and issuance of the license.
(Ord. 98-88. Passed 3-4-98.)