UPPER NAZARETH TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Michelle Morton is leaving her job as administrator of Northampton County’s Gracedale Nursing Home, effective Thursday, Nov. 12, the county announced Monday.
Christina Casey, the deputy administrator, will serve as acting administrator while the county searches for a permanent replacement. The county has not said what prompted the resignation or when it expects to fill the job.
Morton has led the county-run home since March 2025, through a grand jury investigation whose report, made public Sept. 10, said agency staffing “rose to 75% during Morton’s first eight months as administrator.” The state Health Department’s facility listing shows the home on a Provisional II license, and federal records show a one-star rating out of five.
“We appreciate Ms. Morton staying on during such a tumultuous time in Gracedale’s history and the knowledge and patience she brought to the role,” County Executive Tara Zrinski said. “As we transition to the Continuum of Care, her departure provides a fresh start and an opportunity to reevaluate leadership at Gracedale and build the team that will carry this mission forward.”
“Our priority throughout this transition is to maintain continuity of care for our residents while providing our employees with the leadership and resources they need to succeed,” said Tom Carson, director of the Continuum of Care, the new county department that oversees Gracedale.
Morton’s lawyers wrote the judge Aug. 3 that the report “is not fully accurate” and should not be made public. They said reliance on agency nurses “was at its highest around the time Ms. Morton was brought on staff early in 2025,” and that Gracedale’s 2026 state survey found four violations against a state average of 9.3.
In her own June 30 response, Zrinski asked the judge to quash or seal the report.
The report said agency staffing was 56% in a county-commissioned consultant’s earlier analysis. It said the jury found “a lack of leadership with regard to the administration at Gracedale” and that the county executive and County Council “bear the responsibility” of deciding what changes to make. It also said Morton “was not given the authority to bring in any of her own choices for key administrative positions.”
About six weeks before the county announced Morton’s resignation, Zrinski said in a Sept. 10 statement that Morton “has my confidence as this work continues.”
Federal records updated Sept. 1 also show an average of about 490 residents a day against 688 certified beds, and four fines totaling $144,328.
Morton started March 17, 2025, according to the report, so she will have run the home for about 20 months. County Council created the Continuum of Care department by an ordinance introduced April 16, moving Gracedale out of the Department of Human Services, where it was one of eight divisions.
