Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Judge orders four nursing homes closed

  • by Arielle Levin Becker
  • April 28, 2011
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

A Superior Court judge has ordered the closure of four financially-troubled nursing homes that together have 472 beds and employ 575 people.

Judge Jerry Wagner’s ruling Thursday follows a recommendation from the state-appointed receiver in charge of the homes that they be closed because of financial problems. Wagner ordered the receiver, Phyllis A. Belmonte, to arrange for the “orderly transfer of residents.”

The four homes–University Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation in New Haven, Bishops Corner Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation in West Hartford, Soundview Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation in West Haven and Rocky Hill Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation–had a net loss of almost $6.5 million in 2009, Belmonte wrote in a motion filed in court last month. The homes, which were previously owned by the troubled Haven Health Care chain and more recently managed by Genesis Eldercare Network Services, went into receivership in January.

Attorneys for the property owner and the unions representing workers at the facilities had urged Wagner to provide more time to secure a buyer for the homes. A Florida company, Airamid Health Management, expressed interest in buying University and Rocky Hill, but attorneys for the state, which has been covering the cost of running the homes while in receivership, expressed skepticism about the company’s ability to make the homes viable.

Several residents, family members and workers appealed for the homes to stay open.

“I’m very comfortable there. I love the place and the care is excellent,” Corinne Jedziniak, a resident of the Rocky Hill home and president of the residents’ council, said during a March hearing. “I just don’t want to see the place closed.”

Harold Collins, president of the residents’ council at Bishops Corner, told Wagner, “We feel at this point in our lives, we should not have to start over again somewhere new.”

The state Department of Social Services, Department of Public Health and the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman will work on a plan to discharge and transfer the residents to other homes or into the community. State law allows residents of the closing homes to “jump” waiting lists at other facilities, DSS spokesman David Dearborn said. Residents could also move out of institutional care through the Money Follows the Person program, which helps people receive community-based care.

In granting Belmonte’s motion to close the homes, Wagner cited Belmonte’s reference to the large cost to the state of keeping the homes open, the availability of enough beds in the vicinity of each home to accommodate the residents, and the support for the motion by representatives of the state.

Wagner said during the March hearing that he had been touched by letters from residents, workers and relatives of residents. “It’s not easy to consider a closing,” he said.

But he also said he was not optimistic about the prospect of keeping the homes open.

Since 1995, 41 nursing homes in the state have closed, with a loss of more than 3,500 beds.

In a statement, Carmen Boudier, president of New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, which represents 330 workers at the homes, called the decision ill-considered and a tragedy for residents, staff and the communities.

“The real outcome of this decision is that 575 nurses, nursing assistants, support staff and administrators will lose their jobs and benefits, the local communities will lose hundreds of thousands of tax dollars and, worst of all, some 400 frail, elderly residents will be evicted from their home and torn apart from their friends, their familiar caregivers and their place in their communities,” she said. “We know from past experience that such evictions lead to transfer trauma for many residents due to the massive disruption to their lives.”

She also noted that the down economy means that many of the newly unemployed workers will not find new jobs. Many union members who worked at the Waterbury nursing home Crescent Manor, which closed in November 2009, have still not found permanent employment, she said, and other nursing homes are cutting back hours or laying off workers.

Boudier said the closure order reflected the result of an “unwritten but clearly-understood policy of DSS to permit facilities to fail financially and then close to reduce the state’s potential Medicaid liabilities. This has been especially true of union facilities where better wages and benefits prevail.”

DSS spokesman David Dearborn said the court, the receiver and the state tried to facilitate a sale for the homes, but it did not materialize.

Dearborn said overall demand for the level of care that traditional skilled nursing facilities provide has declined over the past decade. It seems to have occurred in direct relationship with the increase in community-based options, including Money Follows the Person, he said.

“Connecticut spends over $1.2 billion annually on Medicaid payments to long-term care facilities for care of about 17,500 frail elders and people with disabilities,” Dearborn said. “These beneficiaries will still be covered, as state agencies work with the receiver and facilities on a careful, planned transfer process, in cooperation with the residents, their families and their advocates.”

Matthew V. Barrett, executive vice president of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, which represents nursing homes, said the four homes had higher labor costs than nonunion homes and, like all nursing homes, struggled with Medicaid rates that he said pay $21 a day below the cost of care. The four homes predominantly cared for patients covered by Medicaid.

While DSS found there were enough available nursing home beds in the vicinity of the four homes, Barrett said that’s not the case in all areas.

“No one should think that the transfer and discharge of nursing home residents across Connecticut is a simple thing,” he said.

Residents can face stress and trauma when they have to move, Barrett said, although he praised the work of Long-Term Care Ombudsman Nancy Shaffer in helping residents relocate. There is also a great deal of stress associated with living in nursing homes under duress, as the residents of the four homes have done, he said.

“These homes are just that for nursing home residents,” Barrett said.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arielle Levin Becker

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Aid-in-dying bill clears key hurdle with committee passage
by Jenna Carlesso

The bill would let terminally ill patients access medication to end their lives.

Ned Lamont’s year in the shadow of COVID
by Mark Pazniokas

Ned Lamont has been the face, voice, and interpreter of the COVID crisis, mourning deaths, explaining setbacks and cautiously celebrating.

Connecticut should work to reduce rates of inmate calling services 
by David Lamendola

Many telecommunications issues are really complicated and only interesting to a handful of policy-oriented folks. But once in a while an issue arises that has easily understandable implications for all of society. High rates for inmate calling services (ICS) is one of these issues. The way it usually works is that an incarcerated person make collect calls from detention facilities, and their family pays the bill. Unfortunately, some providers charge extremely high rates for these calls – a 15 minute phone call to a loved one costs an incarcerated person $5 in Connecticut.

The public health bill no one is talking about, but should be
by Brian Festa

On February 16,  the legislature's Public Health Committee conducted a public hearing on two bills, S.B. 568 and H.B. 6423, both of which would eliminate the religious exemption to mandatory vaccinations for Connecticut schoolchildren.  The hearing was capped at 24 hours, depriving nearly 1,500 members of the public who had registered for the hearing their opportunity to be heard.  The vast majority of those who did testify, and who submitted written testimony, opposed the bill.  The committee is expected to vote on the bill as early as  today. 

Students need more resources, fewer officers
by Tenille Bonilla

"School resource officer" is just a nice way to say cop. But what students really need is more resource and less officer.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion The public health bill no one is talking about, but should be
by Brian Festa

On February 16,  the legislature's Public Health Committee conducted a public hearing on two bills, S.B. 568 and H.B. 6423, both of which would eliminate the religious exemption to mandatory vaccinations for Connecticut schoolchildren.  The hearing was capped at 24 hours, depriving nearly 1,500 members of the public who had registered for the hearing their opportunity to be heard.  The vast majority of those who did testify, and who submitted written testimony, opposed the bill.  The committee is expected to vote on the bill as early as  today. 

Opinion Students need more resources, fewer officers
by Tenille Bonilla

"School resource officer" is just a nice way to say cop. But what students really need is more resource and less officer.

Opinion The Board of Regents’ changes must not shortchange its students or faculty
by Carrie Andreoletti, PhD

As a university professor and a lifespan developmental psychologist, I tend to approach my work from a developmental perspective. This means I aim to foster a lifelong love of learning and to help others find a sense of meaning and purpose, as well as confidence in their ability to reach their goals. My approach to higher education is shaped by my desire to provide the best possible education for my students. This is why the recent Board of Regents’ proposed changes at the four state universities have me worried.

Opinion How to close schooling opportunity gaps created by the pandemic
by Carol Gale

We ask school district leaders to trust your public servants whose daily work life involves assessing student needs and planning or modifying instruction to meet those needs. Listen to their voices, as we have, and allocate precious resources on interventions that will offer increased opportunities for Hartford students to succeed.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO