Bankruptcy forces residents out of Laurel Hill Healthcare

WINSTED — It has been a difficult holiday season for residents, family members and staff at Laurel Hill Healthcare, which announced last month it was closing due to the bankruptcy filing of its parent company, Spectrum Healthcare.Staff at Laurel Hill have been asked to remain mum about details of the closure, but Deborah Chernoff, a representative of the Connecticut division of the New England Health Cafe Employees Union, said this week nearly all Laurel Hill residents are expected to be moved out by mid-January and a small group of staff will remain on for residents who have not been placed by then. Most workers will have been laid off by Jan. 14.Chernoff said Laurel Hill is not a particularly inefficient facility and that its business model was not the primary reason Spectrum chose to close the facility down. Rather, she said, it is the fact that Medicaid payments have not kept up with the cost of nursing home care at all facilities, and Laurel Hill was losing the most money out of Spectrum’s six nursing homes.Patients funded by Medicaid, a state-administered program, have received decreasing contributions compared with those who are on the federal Medicare program. Resulting declines in revenue have made it more difficult for nursing homes to stay afloat.In a September announcement, Spectrum also noted more people are choosing to stay at home instead of entering a nursing home, and occupancy rates have fallen at many facilities. Spectrum owns nursing homes in Ansonia, Derby, Hartford, Manchester and Torrington. According to its bankruptcy filing, the company lost $1.6 million in 2011, with $67.3 million in revenue for the year. The company settled a strike with its employees in 2011.Chernoff said there is a strong case for needed nursing home services in Winsted, but it’s hard to argue with the results of a bankruptcy case. Seven other Connecticut nursing homes have declared bankruptcy in the past five years due to financial pressures.The result for residents and staff at Laurel Hill can amount to a life-changing upheaval, Chernoff noted. “We know a lot of time when people are transferred to another facility they don’t make it,” she said. A phenomenon called transfer trauma often results in fatality. “It’s pretty well documented. It’s not the change in care that the residents are receiving, it’s the relationships and the social atmosphere. It’s not like losing your home — it is losing your home.”For staff members who are losing their jobs, there is also an emotional toll. “Obviously it’s very upsetting,” she said. “People have worked there for a very long time. People know each other, they know the families of the residents. Now they have to look for another job in an economy that is recovering very slowly, in an industry that has seen some shrinkage in the last two years.”There are informal counseling resources offered to nursing home staff though the state Department of Economic Development and Department of Labor, but Chernoff said many will find it difficult to find a new job. Chernoff also said there are fundamental problems with funding nursing home care that need to be addressed.“It’s a terrible situation and unfortunately I think it’s not just this particular home. It really is a collective public policy failure in Connecticut that we do not have a long-term care policy that makes sense. We haven’t figured out how to do it right.”Staff at Laurel Hill have been directed by Spectrum not to speak publicly about the closure of the facility. One employee who spoke anonymously said workers are doing everything they can to get residents transferred safely to other facilities and managed home care.Sean Murphy is the chief financial officer for Spectrum Healthcare and can be reached by calling 860-871-5454.