Gloucester County Nursing Home Warns Of Possible Layoffs, Patient Relocation
By Cleve Bryan
SEWELL, N.J., (CBS) -- More than 130 employees at Gloucester Manor Rehabilitation and Care have received notices of possible layoffs due to a long history of poor inspection records.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has placed the facility on their Special Focus List for 36 months which is the second longest of any facility in the country.
The list is described as "a list of nursing homes that (a) have had a history of serious quality issues and (b) are included in a special program to stimulate improvements in their quality of care."
"Being on the list for 36 months tells you that they're not doing anything to make themselves better," says Saul Gruber, an attorney who specializes in elder care and has handled several complaints against Gloucester Manor.
According to facility administrator Anita Geis Medicare and Medicaid gave them notice that they could stop paying for patients after August 1.
She says about 70 of their approximately 90 residents would be affected if the payments are stopped which she says is still not certain.
"We will be working with the families and with transferring facilities to get these people safely transferred and taken care of," Geis told CBS 3.
According to federal inspection reports posted online from there were several complaints that it could take two or more hours for staff to answer a call bell.
Another person complained of being stuck for days in adult diapers that were too small and leaky.
"The resident stated he/she felt depressed because he/she knew when the brief had leaked and felt depressed because he/she was staff dependent for incontinence," said a report from September 27, 2013.
"Know that what we do here is on any given day very good care, there is not a nursing home that is 100% everyday," says Geis, " we give good care, we're proud of the care that we give and that's where we are."
Gruber says it would be virtually impossible for a nursing home to operate without Medicare and Medicaid.
He says Gloucester Manor has had ample time to improve, "they're told exactly what they're doing wrong and they know how to fix it so they're making choices."
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