A Robertson County man ended up spending more than a day on the side of a busy Springfield highway after the nursing home he’d been living in refused to let him back through the door, a situation that left neighbors stunned and stepping in to help when the facility wouldn’t.
Johnny Ensley had been a patient at the Waters of Springfield when staff sent him to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. He passed it. But when it came time to return, the nursing home told him he couldn’t come back, even though all of his belongings were still there.
The facility eventually delivered his things and his wheelchair to a nearby hotel, where Ensley stayed until his money ran out. After that, he had nowhere else to go. He ended up on the sidewalk along Memorial Boulevard, his belongings stuffed into trash bags around him, sitting outside through the Tennessee heat from Tuesday morning into Wednesday.
Allicia Elliott drove past him around midday and figured he’d move along soon enough. When she came back through the next morning, he was still there. “He was sitting down here right on the side of the highway,” she said.
Ensley said he was confused about why the nursing home wouldn’t let him return after he’d done nothing to warrant being shut out. “I passed the test. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Why couldn’t I go back?” he said.
Neighbors Gina Osborne and Elliott brought him food and water while he waited in the heat, unable to understand how a nursing home could discharge someone, particularly someone dealing with mental health struggles, without making sure he had somewhere to land. “Because I feel like they could have done better,” Osborne said.
Eventually, it was Ensley’s neighbors, not the nursing home, who stepped in. They paid for a hotel room out of their own pockets and contacted the state on his behalf to get him connected to assistance the facility should have arranged. State officials told them a temporary solution could take a day or two to put together. The Waters of Springfield did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
As of a July 30 update, Ensley’s family had reached out after seeing the story and helped arrange stable housing for him. Efforts to secure additional state assistance are still underway. The nursing home has yet to respond.