Rest Haven employees question insurance, name changes

Aug. 20--More than just the name may be changing at Schuylkill County's nursing home when its new owner takes over in two weeks.

Several current and former employees told the county commissioners Wednesday that Investment 360°, Lakewood, New Jersey, plans to dramatically increase family health insurance premiums, cut hours and change Rest Haven's name to Rosewood Health and Rehabilitation Center.

Jo Waugh, Rest Haven's union representative, said family insurance rates will skyrocket from $80 a month with a $1,000 deductible to about $700 a month with an $11,000 deductible under new ownership. The 142-bed facility in Schuylkill Haven has about 113 full-time and 27 part-time employees.

"These people have a relationship with these residents up there, and they can't afford to stay there," Waugh said.

Waugh also said that the company told other agencies that they plan to "clean house," and employees have yet to receive their severance paperwork. The commissioners finalized the severance agreement earlier this month.

County Administrator Mark Scarbinsky said the severance package letters were being sent Wednesday.

Despite closing the sale Sept. 1, Waugh said that there has yet to be negotiations with the employee's union, AFSCME Local 1721. However, a tentative agreement was approved later that afternoon, Scarbinsky said. The agreement still has to be voted on by its members, he said.

The commissioners signed a letter of intent in May to sell Rest Haven to Investment 360° for $10.9 million after Nationwide Healthcare Services, Brick, New Jersey, withdrew its $12.25 million proposal to buy the facility. When the facility was put up for sale a year ago, the commissioners established the following policy goals: maintaining a high quality of care for at least the next 15 years, ensuring access to the facility for the indigent, providing a fair transition for Rest Haven employees and maximizing the financial return to the county.

"The promise that we made is that we want to make this as easy a transition as possible," commissioners Chairman Frank J. Staudenmeier said.

Last year, Investment 360° bought Butler County's Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a 220-bed facility in Butler, for $20.4 million. Staudenmeier said the Butler County commissioners told him it was a smooth transition and the company retained 85 to 90 percent of the employees.

"We are sensitive to your concerns," he said.

"We want this to be a win/win/win for everyone in this county," Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. said. "Rest Haven is an extremely important part of this county."

Commissioner Gary J. Hess said the board needs to make sure those three priorities are being followed.

"We need to make sure before we sign on the dotted line that some of that is taken care of," he said.

Scarbinsky said state statute does not allow the county to require the company to retain all the employees or dictate insurance packages. The county could only require employees be given "first consideration" for any open positions, he said.

"We assure you that our attorneys are working well on our behalf to make this a positive transaction," Scarbinsky said. "I know people may not be happy, but I can assure you life in the private sector is different than life in the public sector. A private company will do what it needs to do to survive and run an operation prudently and equitably, and they will have quality employees to do the job for them."

Scarbinsky said health care and pension costs are some of the reasons Rest Haven was about $4.6 million in the red when the commissioners agreed to sell the facility and why the public sector is getting out of the nursing home business.

"Let's put things into perspective here. We've lost $2 million a year over the past couple years because of the way it's been operated down there," he said. "A private company is not going to come in and offer the same level and scope of benefit packages that the county's offering."

Karl A. Fritton, of Reed Smith LLP, Philadelphia, which represents Investment 360°, said in a prepared statement Wednesday: "Over 90 percent of the positions will be filled with former county employees. There are no plans to 'clean house,' and whoever is voicing that opinion does not speak for the new operators."

Fritton said work hours, health insurance and job security issues have been worked out with the union, but he can not comment any further on those issues due to legal obligations.

"Rest Haven, as we all know, has the best care in the county," Guy Wiederhold, a former union representative at Rest Haven, said. "What is happening is a situation where you are going to lose good employees, and who is going to suffer? The residents."

Wiederhold said Rest Haven does not turn residents away who can not afford care, but a private company will probably not do that. He is concerned about the elderly, which make up most of the population in the county.

"I think this could have been handled better in that there could have been better communication," Wiederhold said. "Just as a taxpayer and a citizen, I sit back and look at this, Mr. Commissioners, and it has been handled very, very poorly."

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