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Efforts to save a Boulevard nursing home — and jobs of 150 people who work there — fizzled for good Thursday as a state judge ordered the operation closed.
Judge Jerry Wagner ordered the closure of the 120-bed University Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation at 915 Ella Grasso Blvd., pending the placement of the home’s residents in other homes.
The state closed one New Haven nursing home last year, West Rock Health Care Facility; while arranging for the sale of the 226-bed not-for-profit Jewish Home for the Aged to a for-profit buyer.
Wagner’s order Thursday affected four homes in all statewide, all owned by Maryland-based Formations Capital/Omega Healthcare Investors.
“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,” said Carmen Boudier, president of New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, SEIU Healthcare, in a release.
“We know from past experience that such evictions lead to transfer trauma for many residents due to the massive disruption to their lives. We also know from our recent experience with such closures that in today’s economy, many of those 575 nurses, nursing assistants, and other caregivers and support staff will not find new jobs, but will be added to the ranks of the long-term unemployed.”
The union charged the state with seeking over time to phase out nursing homes.
“Over the past decade, overall demand for the level of care provided by traditional skilled nursing facilities has declined in terms of number of residents and number of beds licensed by the state,” stated state Department of Social Services spokesman David Dearborn. “The trend seems to be in direct relationship with the increase of community-based care options; most recently, the Money Follows the Person program. In the case of the four facilities subject to Judge Wagner’s order, they are for-profit homes under one owner, and under such financial stress that the state asked the court for receivership to essentially stabilize the situation. Both the court, the receiver and the state made efforts to facilitate a viable sale in two or more of the facilities but this did not materialize.
“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. 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. In some cases, the Money Follows the Person program can help bring residents out of institutionalized care, as happened in the closure of West Rock last year. Nursing home residents in this transfer process also can ‘jump’ waiting lists in other facilities, according to state law. The process will involve the state Departments of Public Health, Social Services, Long-Term Care Ombudsman’s Office, the receiver and the facility staff.”
