WESTERN PA. Home to reopen private rooms

The facility hopes for a $1 million county loan to complete renovations.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- Woodland Place plans to reopen a wing of 11 private suites that nursing home officials say will improve the facility's financial bottom line.
Drew Pierce, chief operating officer for the private, nonprofit facility, said the suites were closed in April because of a decrease in the home's population, but they will reopen Wednesday because the population is rising.
The home's population dropped to the low 70s in May but is now back up to 85, the point at which the suites, one of three nursing units at the facility, need to be reopened, he said Friday.
There are other potential residents who are seeking admission but haven't gotten all of their paperwork cleared yet, he said.
The growing population is good for Woodland Place, which has had some financial difficulties.
Pierce said the minimum monthly income for housing each resident is between $4,000 and $4,500. Some additional staff will be needed to handle the suite area but the revenue will surpass the expense, he said.
Woodland Place will have 100 beds available.
Private rooms
The suites, which offer private rooms, "are probably our nicest unit" and will enable the home to fill the building, Pierce predicted during a tour.
Opening the unit shows that Woodland Place has no plans to close its doors, he said, an apparent reaction to claims that the nursing home is in financial trouble. Operations are on an upswing, he said.
The home also hopes to open its new 15 independent living apartments sometime in the next few months, Pierce said.
Completing that project is contingent upon Woodland Place getting a $1 million loan from Mercer County, a matter that is now the subject of a court case.
County commissioners approved the loan earlier this month, but Controller Tom Amundsen has refused to release the first payment, claiming the commissioners don't have the authority to loan money to a private corporation.
Board's argument
Commissioners argue that Woodland Place, once the county nursing home, has taken on the county's responsibility of serving indigent Mercer dependents.
Further, the county backed an $8.8 million bond issue for Woodland Place and could be called upon to pay off that debt should the nursing home default on the loan, commissioners said.
Olivia Lazor, a county commissioner and a member of the Woodland Place board of directors, said the county helped the nursing home get a $2 million grant to pay for building renovations, but the home, hit with a larger population drop than anticipated as renovations went on, had to tap $600,000 of that money to fund operations.
Meanwhile, the debt to the renovation contractor, Rien Construction of Brookfield, continued to mount and now totals about $650,000, she said.
The $1 million loan would be used to pay the contractor as well as to meet a Wednesday payment of $225,000 on the home's bond issue, Lazor said.
Commissioners filed a court petition seeking an order to force Amundsen to release the money, and a judge will hear the case Monday.
Lazor said an adverse ruling could affect other nonprofit corporations aided by the county, noting that commissioners give $50,000 a year to the Mercer County Area Agency on Aging and $100,000 a year to Penn-Northwest Development Corp., both indirectly linked to the county just like Woodland Place.