Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the owner’s personal professional relationship with Ascension Living Hope. 

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – For Mimi Wakim, the search to find her 97-year-old mother a new assisted living home was something she never expected would happen the way it has.

“For six days, we’ve tried to find a place for my mother,” Wakim said. “And my mom has special needs—not every place can take her.”

Wakim says her mother was evicted from Sunflower Z Homes, LLC, after an alleged contract dispute between the facility and Ascension Living HOPE: Sedgwick County’s only PACE provider (of whom Wakim’s mother is a patient).

In an eviction notice dated Nov. 18, the owner of Sunflower Z Homes wrote in part quote:

“…effective immediately…Nour is being evicted due to negotiations not being reached…”

Wakim says she received that notice two days later.

“She wants my mother out by the 23rd, and if she’s not out by the 23rd, I need to pay $265 a day,” Wakim said.

Wakim says Ascension Living HOPE and Sunflower Z Homes reached a new agreement in the weeks that followed. However, that all changed last week.

“All of a sudden, my mom ended up in the hospital,” Wakim said.

Since then, Wakim says she hasn’t been able to bring her mother back to Sunflower Z Homes.

“She told me, ‘Oh, I don’t have a nurse to readmit her.’ She has not responded. She has not answered her phone calls,” Wakim said.

To make matters more complicated, the recent closing of the Kansas Masonic Home (which served as a nursing home for dozens in the Wichita area) has contributed to the market unable to meet current demand.

“Moving her out of the norm she has been in, that could cause her to probably die,” Wakim said. “Just because someone is old and in a wheelchair doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have a life.”

The owner of Sunflower Z Home confirms she is not employed personally by Ascension Living Hope and referred KSN to Ascension Living Hope to answer questions. KSN spoke with the lawyer representing Sunflower Z, who had no further comment.