The labor union representing nursing home workers in Westchester has called a public meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 4, to address “troubling” issues in care given residents and “substandard working conditions” at Sprain Brook Manor Rehab.
Members of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East ”” a Service Employees International Union local ”” will host a town hall-style forum from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Riverfront Library in Yonkers to address what the union described as poor patient outcomes tied to high staff turnover at the privately owned nursing home at 77 Jackson Ave. in the town of Greenburgh.
The nursing home”™s owners ”” Allen “Ari” Stein, Lazar Strulovitch and Leopold Schwimmer ”” acquired the facility, which has a Scarsdale postal address, in 2012. The same ownership group this year paid $22.7 million to acquire the 120-bed nursing home at St. John”™s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, whose employees also are represented by 1199SEIU.
The Yonkers deal was delayed by a dispute between the new owners and 1199SEIU over union jobs, pay and planned layoffs that was settled in August with a one-year labor agreement that brought a temporary peace.
At Sprain Brook Manor, members of 1199SEIU have been unable to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement that would “stabilize turnover and allow for continuity of care” by improving staff working conditions, according to the union.
As evidence of a “troubling resident care problem,” the union cited statistical averages for the first three quarters of 2015 from Nursing Home Compare, a feature of the federal Medicare website at Medicare.gov that provides detailed information about every Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the country.
Comparisons show that Sprain Brook Manor has the worst rate of pressure sores for long-stay residents of any nursing home in Westchester and the fourth worst in the state, the union noted.
The for-profit nursing home also has the worst rate of urinary tract infections of any nursing home in Westchester. The percentage of long-stay residents with those infections is more than triple the averages for the county, New York State and the U.S.
“Stabilizing staff turnover is an urgent and major issue that must be addressed immediately,” union officials said.
The discussion at the Yonkers forum ”” which the union said will include Sprain Brook Manor residents and their family members, community leaders and elected officials ”” also will address ways to work together to improve quality long-term care in Westchester County, according to the union.
