Closure of facility painful for employees
By Rowena Plett
Reporter
The 55 residents at Florence Health Care have had to find new homes as a result of the closure of the facility. Some have been transferred to homes in Marion County which provide skilled nursing care. Others have gone elsewhere.
The closure has meant not only a change for the residents but for the 44 employees as well.
Maggie Teufel, regional director of operations, is overseeing the closure. She said HealthPrime, the corporation which managed the facility, offered benefit transfers to those employees who went directly to work at another facility.
The decision to close the facility was "difficult and painful," Teufel said.
Costs a factor
She noted that 95 percent of residents were on Medicaid and reimbursement for care was far below the actual cost of operations. She said Medicaid paid for time spent in physical care but not anything else.
Teufel said the staff and administrators did an excellent job but increasing costs of liability insurance, personal property insurance, taxes, and overhead expenses made it impossible to continue.
"It was strictly a business decision," Teufel emphasized. "Some employees have been here 20 years and did a wonderful job."
Teufel was administrator at Florence Health Care for 18 years before taking her current job two and one-half years ago. Her last day at the facility was Tuesday.
Her voice breaking, she said, "I've only had to do one thing harder than this, and I'm not a young woman."
According to Teufel, administrator Bonita Boydston will remain at the facility a while longer.
City concerns
Florence Chamber of Commerce president Dan Ludwig said the city recognized the affect the closing would have on local residents and businesses.
"It employed about 50 people," he said. "That has a big impact on the community."
The city wants to help find a solution to the closing but Ludwig said legal issues involving the owners and operators will need to be resolved bofore the city can do much.
"We would like to get someone back in there to provide jobs and not have another empty building in town," he said. "We will just have to wait until it's out of court, and then try and do something."
