With the Thursday, Dec 15 public hearing on the future of the town owned nursing home, The Nathaniel Witherell fast approaching, the facility’s executive director‘s email to friends and family was widely circulated on Monday:
Dear Friends and Families:
With opponents of our center of care aggressively publishing misleading information, I wish to set the record straight as to why The Nathaniel Witherell should remain Town-owned and -operated.
1. Private or Public?
To me, Town ownership of the Witherell demonstrates Greenwich’s true civic spirit. In doing so, our Town does something pretty rare these days: it takes care of its own – meaning the retired police, teachers, firefighters, librarians, caretakers, gardeners, parents of residents, and others in our community who once worked here but cannot afford the depth and breadth of care they need now.
Yet our opponents don’t see it that way. They want to exclude such people from the kind of support that is given to public education, recreation (golfing, swimming pools, ice skating rinks, beaches), and our cultural organizations. When it comes to the elderly, the naysayers’ attitude sounds more like “Let them eat cake” than “Goodwill to all.”
The elderly and infirm are our most vulnerable citizens. That we can “do unto others” is something Greenwich should continue and be proud of. In fact, we should be a model for other communities. Being public also brings accountability and transparency; private ownership does not.
In this nation, there are approximately 1.3 million long-term nursing home residents, 90% of which are caring for people 65 years of age or older. Lack of adequate financial support to cover escalating costs, exacerbated by the COVID-19 epidemic, forced some nursing home providers to sell off their assets and seek other revenue sources, notably from private equity ownership. They did this in order to keep their doors open.
With private equity ownership, the pressure to generate high, short-term profits often leads such nursing homes to reduce staffing, services, supplies or equipment, which directly impacts their quality of care. This has been confirmed by many studies conducted by respected, nonprofit organizations such as JAMA, The Kaiser Foundation, medicareadvocacy.org, and others.
Secondly, our opponents persist in comparing us to Greenwich Hospital, which is privately-owned. This is disingenuous. We are a publicly-owned, nonprofit center of care, providing long-term care for the vulnerable elderly and post-surgical rehab for hospital patients (some of whom even are referred to us by Greenwich Hospital!). The hospital is licensed as an acute care facility. It is a member of the Yale New Haven Health System. Its financial structure is different. Its patient base is dramatically larger as is its fund-raising operation. Apples and oranges.
2. The numbers:
Our opponents persist putting out numbers that combine debt service with Town subsidies, lumping in charitable contributions made to the Friends of the Nathaniel Witherell as “subsidies” to try to inflate the numbers for their own purposes. This is not only misleading, it’s deceptive. Over the years, The Friends of Nathaniel Witherell (FNW) has raised $12.8 million for many things that benefit the quality of life of our residents. But, to the best of my knowledge, FNW never raised money to bridge a Nathaniel Witherell budget shortfall.
As it currently stands, costs to the Town are as follows: a $250,000 shortfall is projected (meaning a deficit caused by the number of unoccupied beds) plus debt service costing $1.7 million annually, which is repayment of a bond originally negotiated during Project Renew. Repayment of that debt service will continue until 2035, irrespective of whether the Witherell remains Town-owned or privately-owned. Seventy percent of our gross expenses are reimbursed by Medicare or Medicaid.
There are 22,383 households in Greenwich. So, what will be the projected cost to individual households in Greenwich? As of now, approximately $90 for the year, per household. Consider this: even if, worst case scenario, we had a $1 million shortfall and with debt service it added up to $2.7 million, the cost per household would be $120 for the year. I think this is a very small price to pay to care for our community’s most vulnerable citizens.
3. Our recent CMS rating:
The Witherell stands for excellence, so the unexpected change in our rating last spring was terribly disappointing. The Witherell immediately set out to address the issues CMS raised, and recently received a letter from the Connecticut Department of Public Health which approved the Witherell’s Plan of Action, stating: “The deficiencies noted on this visit were corrected” and “substantial compliance has been achieved.”
The reason for the lower CMS ranking was that the Witherell hadn’t had a survey in three years because of the pandemic, so certain issues from three years ago were counted in as current.
What was not reported was that CMS did give the Witherell four stars last spring for staffing and quality measures, so we believe the one-star rating was an unfair assessment.
Daily, we are enforcing quality standards and striving always to be the very best we can be. Our first priority is and always has been the health, safety, and well-being of the residents in our care. That is best practice and a moral imperative.
4. Staffing:
We have the lowest staff turnover rate in the state because our team is loyal, tough-minded, strong and resilient. They realize they could be in another profession, but they regard caring for the elderly and infirm as a calling.
That said, workforce shortages are occurring nationwide. Especially hard hit is the healthcare industry, including hospitals, other nursing homes, medical practices, and healthcare systems. This is due in large measure to the impact of the pandemic; burnout caused people to leave the profession. Now, either they are working remotely, have entered a new field, started their own businesses, or retired. We had to replace a retired administrator in charge of collections with a third-party service so collection of unpaid revenues could resume. Our opponents would have you believe otherwise.
Let’s keep the Witherell as a Town-owned and -operated center of care. When looking after our elderly and most fragile citizens, it is far better to be answerable to the community than not. The Nathaniel Witherell is all about this community.
Please let your voices be heard on December 15th.
In order to attend and/or register remarks or to speak, please click on:
See also:
DRAKE, FISHER, BAROLAK: Let’s put the Witherell on a Strong Foundation
Dec 11, 2022
CAMILLO: Multi-Million Dollar Annual Subsidies at Witherell Are Unfair to Taxpayers
Nov 12, 2022
Witherell Board Chair Larry Simon Reappointed to Third Term After Tense RTM Vote
Oct 25, 2022
Witherell Overall Rating Drops to 1 Star after Inspections Reveal 16 Deficiencies Including Abuse
Aug 3, 2022