Friendship Haven stands on Dodson Avenue in this 2014 file photo.Retirement home owners previously charged with neglect and physical abuse in Collegedale now operate Friendship Haven, an urban Chattanooga retirement home that's been in the community for more than 70 years.
Trudy Mott, Southeast Tennessee ombudsman for the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability, said she's concerned and surprised that David and Agnes Machoka are back in business and she is watching Friendship Haven closely.
"My greatest concern is are they aware of how to provide care," Mott said.
Mott was among a group of inspectors with the Collegedale Police Department and Tennessee's Adult Protective Services who investigated complaints against Moraa's Home for Seniors in 2013. The Machokas and their employee, Margaret "Maggie" Adhiambo, were charged with two counts each of physical abuse and gross negligence, and six counts each of willful abuse, neglect or exploitation.
Most of the charges were eventually dropped, except two counts each of gross neglect of an impaired adult, according to the Hamilton County Criminal Court. The couple is scheduled to be in Criminal Court on July 8 in that case.
Tennessee does not prohibit a person charged with neglect and/or abuse from owning a home for the aged, assuming the person has not been convicted, according to Shelley Walker, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Health.
The Machokas said Tuesday they did not neglect the people in their care at Moraa's and that Adhiambo no longer works with them. They say that caring for the elderly is their ministry.
"We did not do it," David Machoka said.
David Machoka worked in public service in Kenya for more than 30 years. Agnes Machoka is a state-licensed nurse's aide and worked as a nurse for Life Care Centers of America before the couple opened Moraa's, a six-bed facility for women, in Collegedale in 2009. The home was named after Agnes Machoka's mother.
Mott said she has visited Friendship Haven a couple of times since she learned that the Machokas were in business.
David Machoka sifts through records filed for Moraa's Home for Seniors while his wife Agnes Machoka and and employee Margaret Adhiambo discuss the family's business.So far, she said, the three residents can take their medications, speak for themselves and get out of the building on their own in case of an emergency.
"I'm keeping an eye on them," said Mott. "Believe me, when they opened, I was over there."
The investigation against the Machokas began when the family of then-96-year-old Gertrude Moore took her from Moraa's to a hospital in March 2013.
Doctors found Moore was dehydrated and had a urinary tract infection. They found no traces of her required medication in her blood. She had bruises on her legs and ankles where she said a caregiver had shaken her.
Several other residents had been taken to the hospital, where signs of abuse and neglect were discovered, Collegedale police said at the time.
David Machoka said Moore was only at Moraa's for a week before the family took her out of the home and to the hospital. He said the families of other Moraa's patients were happy with their loved ones' care, noting one is now a Friendship Haven patient.
He said the couple bought the empty, vandalized Friendship Haven building for $125,000 in 2013 and used their own money to replace copper wiring and to restore bathroom fixtures and air conditioning. They also made two bathrooms handicap-accessible and repainted the building.
The Machokas want to fill the 13 remaining beds by this summer, David Machoka said.
"There is opportunity here," he said. "This is a place that used to help people."
Friendship Haven is a pillar of the community, said James Miller, vice president at First Tennessee Bank.
Miller was among hundreds of people attempting to raise funds for the home about a decade ago after it lost United Way funding that had sustained it since the 1980s.
"At one time, this was the only place where African-Americans could put their loved ones and know that they were taken care of," he said. "When you have a place like that, you want to sustain it."
Friendship Haven was founded in the 1930s to serve elderly women who couldn't afford to go anywhere else for senior care. The founders -- Minnie Rhee, Minor McNorton, Minnie Green, Eva Cross and Louise Alford -- raised the money for the home by selling cakes and dinners.
The home merged with Rosewood Supportive Services in 2008 and eventually closed after Rosewood went out of business.
But until then, past administrators said, Friendship Haven operated for more than 70 years without ever turning anyone away because of inability to pay.
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.