BLAKELY — Families of residents at Aventura at Terrace View say they were surprised about the nursing home’s upcoming closure.
Last week’s news that the for-profit skilled nursing facility would shutter within 30 days after its Medicare and Medicaid provider agreements were terminated has them trying to find a new facility for their loved ones.
“It’s sad for the people, everyone that lives here and for the workers,” said Duryea resident Gary McCauley, whose mother, Florence McCauley, has lived at the facility for 2½ years. “My mom had a relationship with a lot of the people here and … now we got to start all over, take her to a new place and get her accustomed to the people there.”
McCauley was one of many people who attended an open house Monday afternoon where information was offered on other long-term care facilities in the region. Family members said they were notified of the closure late last week.
A recent legal notice posted by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, noted as of Wednesday, April 30, Aventura at Terrace View is no longer a participant in the Medicare program “due to the facility’s failure to meet Medicare’s basic health and safety requirements.” The facility’s provider agreement as a nursing facility in the Medicaid program was also terminated effective April 30.
Aventura was notified that Medicare will cease paying for services furnished to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries admitted after last Oct. 31, though payment may continue for up to 30 days for patients admitted on or before that date, according to the notice.
The facility narrowly avoided mandatory termination of its Medicare and Medicaid provider agreements last August, when CMS issued notices that, like the recent notice, attributed the then-pending termination to Aventura’s failure to meet Medicare’s “basic health and safety requirements.” However, officials were able to resolve its deficiencies.
The specific deficiencies that may have prompted the most recent termination notice are unclear, but Aventura at Terrace View, formerly known as Lackawanna Health and Rehab Center, is not rated on Medicare’s Nursing Home Care Compare website — which rates facilities based on their performance in three areas: health inspections, staffing and quality measures — “due to a history of serious quality issues.” The facility was subject to more frequent inspections, escalating penalties and potential termination from Medicare and Medicaid, according to the website.
About 111 residents will be relocated to other facilities before Aventura closes, officials with the Lackawanna County Area Agency on Aging and the nonprofit Serving Seniors said Friday.
Jessup Borough Council President Roberta Galati said she didn’t notice any problems at the facility in the five years that her cousin Loretta DePietro has resided there.
“I really don’t understand it because she has been here a long time and she’s gotten good treatment,” Galati said. “They said that some things weren’t being done as they were supposed to be done, but I never saw it. The girls that take care of her, the nurses, the aides, physical therapy, everything, they’re all very nice.”
She said her cousin was initially nervous about the closure but was doing better Monday. Galati came out of the open house with some flyers for long-term care facilities and plans to ask her daughter, a nurse practitioner, for recommendations.
McCauley initially panicked when he heard the facility was closing as he hasn’t had to find a nursing home for his mother on his own. He’s hopeful she will be accepted at St. Mary’s Villa, which he said is only accepting between 10 and 12 people. He filled out an application Monday for her to be considered at the facility in Elmhurst Twp.
“Hopefully we get lucky and we’re one of the 10 to 12,” he said. “But there is also plenty of other places to try. We have 30 days.”
Like others who attended the open house, Neil Marcen of West Scranton said his mother, Ann Marie Marcen, has been happy at the facility — with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which she caught the disease multiple times. However, he said the facility has cycled through head nurses and administrators during the time his mother has been there.
“The people that were directly involved with my mom, they actually cared,” the younger Marcen said.
He said the closure is a blessing because he hoped to get her into a different facility. Marcen is hopeful one he found near Lake Ariel, which accepts Medicare, will be better for her.
Although Blakely residents John and Melissa Dupay have time to find another facility for John Dupay’s mother, Anna Dupay, they worry about securing a spot.
“The space goes up,” he said.
They are hopeful that Anna Dupay will land at Julia Ribaudo Extended Care Center in Lake Twp. with friends from Aventura at Terrace View.