12:20 PM EDT on Sunday, October 17, 2004

Lillian Ridolfi says she lost her money at Hillside Health Center, and a bit of her faith in people, too.

Ridolfi is one of several elderly women who say they are owed money by Windsor Court, the assisted-living wing of Hillside Health Center.

Their predicament began in March, when the entire Hillside complex went into state bankruptcy.

The women say they were told that while the nursing home, with its dismal record of care, was in danger of closing, the assisted-living wing would stay open.

But in late May, the court-appointed receiver announced that both Hillside and Windsor Court were closing; everyone would have to move by July 1.

The women say they were told by a Windsor Court supervisor to pay their entire June rent at Windsor Court, even if they were moving out sooner. They say they were promised they would be reimbursed for days not used.

Mildred Bricault, 81, who says she was unexpectedly wheeled from Hillside to a new room Windsor Court in early May, as the nursing home tried to hang on to residents, didn't want to pay -- at first.

She didn't trust she'd be repaid by a failed business that was running out of food. Her son, who handles her bills, agreed.

"We didn't pay it," she said. "But [the supervisor] kept asking me. I said I had to speak to my son. It started to get embarrassing. He told me he needed it to pay the girls. He kept after me. Every time he'd see me he'd ask for money."

"I said, 'You know, son, it's getting embarrassing, he's asking me for money in front of people.' "

Bricault, a former factory worker, paid $1,000 -- she never got any of it back though she moved out early.

Lillian Ridolfi, 84, also paid a full month's rent. Her husband, Leno,once a foreman at a steel mill, is partly paralyzed. Ridolfi had taken over the bills, which wasn't easy since he had always handled the money.

Some others refused to pay, she said, but "like a nut, I paid."

She wrote a check for $2,700.

As June ticked on, she found a smaller apartment at Pocasset Lodge, in Johnston. She pared down and sold her lamps and her hutch to a maintenance man at Hillside.

Ridolfi started asking for her money back days before her move-out date on June 15. "Something told me I better keep asking," she said.

"I asked three times before I moved," she said. "I never got an answer."

On her last day at Windsor Court, she waited all day for someone to give her money back. She also wanted her security deposit back, $750.

Lillian Ridolfi said she has also filed a claim with the court-appointed receiver. She sent copies of her checks, which she had kept in a safety box, with a letter.

"I am 84 years old with a very sick husband and desperately need my money back."

Ridolfi said that when she first moved into Pocasset Lodge, all she did was cry. A nurse asked her whether she was depressed.

She answered yes.

"I had all this on my mind. It can't be true. It can't be true. I can't believe it. I'm so angry, I guess, inside. I just don't see doing that to people. I just don't understand it."

-- Jennifer Levitz