Hospice Nurse visits, Helicopters & more RULES

First let me thank the monitors of this site, you all have been a real source of help and encouragement as I am not only a new board member, I am a first time board member.

Now for the fun:

I live in a gated community of 950 properties that are roughly 300 patio and or individual homes and approx 650 condo units, our amenities include 2 outdoor pools, one indoor pool and one hot tub, a weight/workout room, a tennis court and an 18 hole golf course with all greens replaced.

Issue at hand, I have 3 concerns:

1 with the federal privacy of HEPA, visiting nurses refuse to give our security personnel at the gate the name and/or address of where they are going (I don't have any problem with that); but our "policy" requires an address and/or a name of whom the visitor wishes to see. If it were the same nurse every time, that would be simpler. Have any of you have a phrase or rules/reg that I could propose to our board that would provide for medical personnel not needing to provide the address/name, but just provide ID of their occupation?

2. Helicopters: this one is a shame, but you experienced board members should get a smile from it! We had a request to land a helicopter on a cul-de-sac inside our community. I was one of two board members who opposed the concept based on safety concerns; the other 7 approved it, revising their motion to include my comment during the discussion that they check with the insurance company about liability. We board members were notified the next day that the insurance company would not cover the chopper; therefore we figured it was a dead issue. Oh, the reason for the helicopter: to take an owner’s son to the high school prom! I was gone for two weeks and came home to learn the helicopter DID land inside the gated community. It seems that since the board denied access to the “cul-de-sac”, we did not conceive that these strong willed folks would persuade a neighboring property owner to use their large yard to land the helicopter.
Ok, now let’s get back to serious. I will be making a motion that NOTHING comes inside our gated community unless it comes past the security check point ON WHEELS per our already approved rules and regulations for entering the area, with the ONLY exceptions being
a. A special vote by the Board of Directors of BOTH the Property Owners Association and the Condominium Owners Association. Any violations to be fined severely.
b. A medical or other emergency situation.
Have any of you had experience with such a concept (these folks deliberately went against the board’s vote by “picking” a different site that was on private property but still inside the gated community, for which we as the board, I understand, are obligated to keep as safe as possible.
3. lastly, but certainly not the end I’m sure, are the rules and regs that only a board can evolve into the semblance of reality.
a. Parking – all trailers, boats trailers, and motor homes must be parked in the designated areas. That’s fine, except the designated areas are NOT LEVEL (we have more hills than Florida has sand!), therefore the motor home folks and others with refrigerators on board cannot use these spots. I hope I can get that revised at the next board meeting. But consider it for your facility, if parking is a problem.
b. Here’s Your Sign! For some unknown reason, it is OK to put out a sign that promotes the repairman’s company, the real estate company if you are selling the property, your own FOR SALE by owner sign; however it is NOT ok to put out a sign that says FOR RENT, even though we have procedures in place that regulate rental properties. Recall that we are 2/3rds condos, and there are a lot of condos for rent via several owners as well as a few misc. management companies. The Patio homes and individual homes have had their For Rent signs out in the past, but just recently the “rules” were changed. As I get to the bottom of this one, I would appreciate any input someone may have regarding the signage issue and especially if rental signs are a “problem”.
c. I will close with the “best one”: by state law, individuals are not allowed to take their own liquor onto the golf course while playing golf, etc. we have a restaurant under new management with a new state issued liquor license, which will be in jeopardy if the booze police catch the owners/visitors with their own liquor and not the stuff purchased from the licensed guy. (It is a technical thing about WHERE the booze comes from) we are considering stiff fines, which can be levied against owners only, (visitors and guests can only be banned if they violate policies), however the owner who invited the guest/visitor could be fined. (Since our golf course is a public facility, I wonder if we should fine our own selves for those “visitors who come from the general public” who violate the liquor laws. Ho, Hum!!!
Any input on how to legislate the impossible will be greatly appreciated, thanks again for your website and for tolerating my comments, if you made it this far.

Congrats or my fondest sympathies, whichever applies!


First, no offense, but it's HIPPA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. I think HEPA is an allergy-reducing filter.

But seriously, I don't think an address violates HIPPA, but in case it does (real gray area, as far as I'm concerned), then whether you have a "policy" or not is meaningless. But you most certainly can obtain as much ID and detail regarding WHO the medical personnel is.


Beware of micro-managing. You fulfilled your responsibility by disallowing the helicopter on area that you control. To then reach into someone else's private property, outside of what your governing documents give you authority over, would be overkill. If there had been an incident with the helicopter, your board was on record as disallowing the landing on area it controlled, and for appropriate reasons. The resident then who allowed it to land on their property took on all the risk from that point forward.

Your reaction, then, appears to be more out of retaliation (they did something you didn't want them to do) than out of authority granted in your governing documents.

It would be just silly to then go out and build an entire amendment to cover such a unique situation, simply because the board's collective egos were bruised. Please don't waste your or the board's time pursuing this any further and just be thankful that no one did get hurt.


Not sure why any of these signs are required, in a gated community. It's not like Joe and Jill Blow, out on a Sunday drive, are going to be wandering past any of the units.


Um. Again, beware of micromanaging, or micro-policing. If you have signs posted in visible locations that advise of the policy (no BYOB, etc), then I seriously doubt the liquor license would be in jeopardy. You will drive yourself silly trying to police this. If your signs are prominently placed, or if you have everyone who uses the facility sign an acknowledgment of the liquor restrictions, then you should be good to go.

Michelle is right on HIPPA, and you have the right to ask who they are visiting. You do not have the right to ask WHY they are there, what care they are providing, what condition the member is in, etc. But you can certainly ask WHO they are attending, that is NOT confidential medical information.

(think about it this way, it is public knowledge, should someone care, to see that owner John Doe entered this clinic at 0900 on Thursday, May 19th, etc... ) All they have to do is stand outside and watch who comes and goes. You can see who comes and goes, but you won't know why. and you shouldn't.

I doubt there will be a "helicopter" problem. I realize your upset. A homeowner went against your authority, but I kinda think your wasting your time making a policy against things like helicopters. LOL.

You have a right to ask and they have an obligation to not say. The penalty for them telling you who they visit can go to $10,000 and 10 years in jail. Deny them if you must, they simply can not reveal the information. Your only option here is to require the owner to call the front to pre-clear the visitor. And when you do, you better do it for all such visitors or you are courting a privacy invasion suit. You may win, but it will be costly and not good publicity.

In regards to the helicopter, you will lose that battle, end of story. You see our federal government has declared that they alone have authority to control the airspace within the US. And the helicopter touched on private land not under your control. Calm down and take a breath. By the way, the helicopter service's insurance would be on the hook if something went wrong. This is very regulated by the FAA as well.

By the way, according to your line of reasoning you should shut your roads to car travel. Your insurance isn't going to kick in when a car accident occurs. It doesn't kick in even if the driver is uninsured. That is because you are not responsible for the drivers.

I would agree that the sign situation seems lopsided. But if you are being tight on who comes into the community then the effect of a sign seems quite limited anyway.

As for the liqueur at the golf course, I would start with a call to the state regulators. I promise you aren't the first golf course with this issue. And your seeking to know what they expect of you is most likely going to be viewed in a positive light.

seriously take a deep breath. Life managed to limp along before you came to the rescue and will do so long after your gone. Do your best to make good decisions for the good of the neighborhood. Everything will most likely be fine. (And if it isn't then you couldn't have stopped that problem anyway.)

The position of Medicare is that simply releasing a patient's name is in fact a violation of HIPPA. In fact, they will quickly send warnings and follow with fines for when an EOB is sent in for secondary claim if any information is left unredacted concerning unaffected patients. It doesn't matter if said information is not enough to actually identify the patient.

Also, along the same lines, the old sign in list where you could see all those ahead of you has been ruled to be a violation of HIPPA. And if a doctor mentions a name in an elevator of a hospital? Well that is a violation.