LAWRENCE COUNTY State requires plan for nursing home

Commissioners must come up with an administration plan because the administrator is ill.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County commissioners must decide by next week how they will operate the county nursing home.
Commissioner Roger DeCarbo said state officials contacted them last week to tell them that they must come up with a new plan of administration for Hill View Manor by Oct. 10.
Administrator Pete Bender has been off work for about four weeks because of an unexpected illness, DeCarbo said. They are unsure when Bender will return to work.
DeCarbo said state law requires all licensed nursing homes to have a full-time administrator available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Bender's illness kept him from the building, but he was available by telephone, DeCarbo said.
The commissioners informed the state of Bender's condition and received permission to operate the nursing home with that arrangement, DeCarbo said.
But now they must find a new solution.
Alternatives
DeCarbo said they are considering either hiring Complete Care Services, a company that administrates nursing homes across the country, or hiring an individual from Pittsburgh who fills in as a temporary nursing home administrator.
Commissioners are expected to discuss the possibilities at Thursday's caucus meeting.
In other business, commissioners said they will not mail out a summary of the Lawrence County Government Study Commission's report to voters.
The commission is recommending to voters that county government change from three full-time commissioners to a part-time county council with a professional manager. All other elected offices, except the controller and district attorney, would also be abolished and replaced by department heads.
The study commission had asked that a four-page summary of its report be mailed to registered voters, but commissioners disagree.
"We feel the book is important enough that the voters should see it in its entirety," DeCarbo said.
High cost of mailing
But Janet Verone, a member of the study commission, said the commission did not want the county to incur a high cost to mail out the 32-page report. She said it is estimated to cost $12,000.
Verone said members of the study commission who are not part of the Vote Yes for Better Government Committee plan to print their own pamphlet summarizing the report.
"We don't have a lot of money and we can't do a mass mailing, but the information will be available," she said.
DeCarbo noted that 5,000 copies of the 32-page report were printed and many are still available at area libraries, municipal buildings and the county government center. It is also posted on the county Web site at www.co.lawrence.pa.us.