Firm tours health center
County Commission Vice Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan talks with Washington County Health Center employees Thursday.
Kathy Shaner, right, a member of SEIU Healthcare PA, prepares to address the Washington County commissioners Thursday.
Helen Navrotski, an aide at Washington County Health Center, asks the county commissioners to reconsider the proposed sale of the 288-bed facility.
An advertisement last week that could lead to the potential sale of Washington County Health Center resulted in the first tour by representatives of a firm expressing interest.
Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC is one of nine firms wanting a look at Washington County Health Center. Three firms signed a nondisclosure agreement as of Jan. 27.
Comprehensive Healthcare Management purchased the former Friendship Ridge nursing home from Beaver County in 2014.
The Medicare.gov “Nursing Home Compare” website gives the Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, 246 Friendship Circle, Beaver, an overall rating of one star on a five-star scale. Health inspections and quality measures earned two of five stars, according to Medicare.gov, which is below average. Staffing received just one star, which, like the overall rating, was listed as “much below average.”
Attempts to contact a spokesman for Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center Thursday afternoon by phone and email were not successful.
The tour of the health center took place before Thursday’s meeting of the Washington County commissioners, who pointed to an operating loss of more than $9 million at Washington County Health Center since 2011 that they have called unsustainable.
Placard-carrying members of the Service Employees International Union/Healthcare PA have attended each commissioners’ meeting since news of the potential sale became public in late November, and Thursday was no different.
Kathy Shaner, a member of the Service Employees International Union who works as a nurse’s aide, presented Chief Clerk Cynthia Griffin a sheaf of petitions, gathered in person and online under the title, “Save the Washington county health center,” with 1,458 signatures.
“We want to keep our four-star home and strive for a five-star home,” she said.
Helen Navrotski, a nurse’s aide at the health center for more than five years, connected Comprehensive to at least six people who have lost their jobs due to recent nursing home sales in the private sector and asked the commissioners to reconsider their decision to market the 288-bed facility.
“Our building is well-maintained,” Navrotski said. “The nurses and the aides, they are your money.”
As part of the 24-page request for proposals that appeared on its website in January, the county wants assurance that the buyer will provide long-term care for residents over the next 15 years and a declaration of how many beds it plans to dedicate to nursing home care “with access to the indigent and vulnerable.”
The approximately 200 unionized employees of the health center have continued to work under the terms of their contract that expired Dec. 31. There are 305 employees at the health center, for whom the county seeks “a fair and equitable transition.”
After the meeting, Commission Chairman Larry Maggi said, “We’ve had numerous parties who are interested in purchasing the facility. There will be due diligence done on all before there is a decision made. I don’t know who’s touring it as of yet. We’re looking at what type of business they are, what type of homes they run. Anybody has a right to go out and tour that now. I don’t know if they’re serious buyers. There will hopefully be more than one bid.”
In a related matter, the commissioners on Thursday hired Kathy Lonick, former health center business office employee, as a $30-per-hour contractor to work with accounts receivable. Health center Administrator Tim Kimmel said since Lonick retired last year, her position in billing and fiscal affairs has remained unfilled.
Washington County Health Center opened in 1977. Ironically, an Observer-Reporter story from Nov. 30, 1976, was headlined: “Commissioners may sell new Arden health center,” based on questions surrounding government reimbursement for patient care. The current commissioners have chosen to market the health center because of decreasing reimbursement rates that they say are forcing counties out of the nursing home industry.