Last night's discussion about the problems at the county nursing home featured a lot of handwringing, but little in the way of problem solving. I think the chances of getting 14 votes together to actually make changes in how the operation runs are slim. Except for a select few board members, it seems like the hope is that somehow this will all be resolved or go away without the board actually making tough decisions. Kudos are in order for Al Nudo especially who has really dug deeply into this issue. In a week the nursing home director is to come back with some ideas for the full board meeting. But Weibel shut down any idea of another meeting to discuss any suggestions so I don't really know if we can expect action next week.
Also next week, we may have people appointed to the oversight board for the nursing home. That board was created in January but still hasn't had the positions filled.
This is truly a dire situation. Even with a sound plan of action on the part of the board there are going to be cutbacks in other county services. The general corporate fund has bailed out the nursing home in the amount of millions now in both operational and capital expenditures. Last night I was told that the County actually had to cash in a Certificate of Deposit early in order to make payroll.
What was made clear to me last night was that the time to act on fixing the nursing home was at least two years ago and that only now, that it is seeming too late, do many on the board finally realize there is a problem.
The Union workers made it abundantly clear that most if not all of the nursing shortages are due to the Director of Nursing.
Where is the accountability in all of this? Talking to various people it seems that the problem with the director was known by many. How could it not have been know by the board that has oversight responsibilities?
More importantly how could it not have been know by the man administering the nursing home? Does he not have power to fire this person? If so did he not fire him out of loyalty, ignorance, or some other unexplained reason? The administrator is just as guilty for not taking action.
Instead of now being able to approach the nursing homes future in a philosophical way a path will be forced upon it. We are now likely to be forced into a narrow range of choices on how to proceed.
Unfortunately now accountability may now be forced on them because the county can no longer afford to bankroll an inept leadership. Unfortunately the nurses, employees and patients of the nursing home will now be caught in the middle.
The county board should form a standing committee for oversight and that committee should be responsible for holding all county appendages responsible for the funds it uses and ensure that they are fulfilling the responsibilities of each as the county board envisions.
Sell it!
What I find particularly frustrating is that with all the hand-wringing and discussion over whether to operate the nursing home as a county resource or sell it to private interests, the reality of the current situation is we're doing neither.
Where is the accountability? An oversight board was created in January but still has not been populated? My suggestion -- elect Al Nudo as oversight board chair and allow him to nominate four additional members for County Board approval. (I don't know how many procedural rules this may violate, but that's not my problem.) If the CB can execute a successful craniorectal extraction long enough to make some smart non-partisan choices about this vital oversight, then we might start to see some results.
Sheesh.
They're just prolonging the inevitable.......get out of the county supported nursing home business ( as the bulk of counties have done) or slam the taxpayers with huge tax increases.
Mr Weibel was quoted in the News Gazette saying that to sell now would be at pennies on the dollar of the cost of the new facility. Well at least it would be a one time hit rather than an over and over million here, million there hit that is sinking the entire operating fund of the county.
Mr Weibel was quoted in the News Gazette saying that to sell now would be at pennies on the dollar of the cost of the new facility.
I've had some stocks like that. I bought it at $3, it's down to $1 per share (I can't sell now and take such a bath)...sold it at $.15.
Sunk costs are sunk. It doesn't matter what the building cost. What will be the cash flow going forward - in or out?
Hey, just to be clear...I think the short answer is, the county shouldn't be in the nursing home business. My suggestion was based on the initial assumption that the current board will not seriously consider that option.
If they're willing to do that, on the other hand, I would refer them to JohnBoy, fred and RSWB above.
Sometimes you just have to take the loss and move on. Does anyone on the county board think they will ever do anything but lose money on this?
let's be even more clear. This nursing home is talking about "breaking even" with a free building, and an employee wage subsidy.
Actually they had a window of opportunity, several years ago,but the county nursing home has long been "who knows who" type of operation. Some serious policy changes needed to be made,,#1 Do not base who gets bumped up on the waiting list by how much cash they can put down., #2 Do not pretend to be a fully open,,non discriminatory facility,,,when in really for years little old farm folks from Royal, Penfield,etc were the desired resident base. One moment,,but that has teed me off for over 20 years,,,,they have put up the pretense of caring for ALL the elderly and sick in Champaign County,,,,when they really did not, Now the past policies are catching up. The state determined they did not have the amount of people requiring skilled care to justify the payments received,,,so they docked them $600,000 bucks! almost everyone in a nursing home now days needs some form of help from public aid,,,example say a resident has a combined income of $2,500 a month,,,,,,,but they monthly rate is $3,500, then minus a stipend to the resident and some other small exemptions.......they client turns over their income,and public aid picks up the rest,plus medicine. Medicare only comes into play on discharges from the hospital and back in and so forth. usually resulting in Medicare paying for the first 15 days at full rate, then 5 more days at a reduced rate. Money at least enough to sustain itself could have been made with proper policies,,,,they got away with it for the most part at the old place. Having a waiting list is inexcusable. I would offer my services for free to help,,,but there are too many hands in the pot now. All with their own agendas.