State shouldn’t approve plan to expand nursing home in Albion

Editor:

I find it hard to believe that this news outlet has not covered the outrageous headline, “The Villages of Orleans plans $1.6M expansion into assisted living.”

The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center owners are notorious for making boastful statements on how they will improve the quality of life for the infirmed, yet in reality, it’s how they can provide little, yet profit the most.

On 9/26/2019 Department of State, Division of Corporations, listed a new entity name Albion Retirement Village, LLC. The members of this group are Mr. Evan Lahasky, Mr. David Gast, Mr. Sam Halper, Mr. Shabse Fuch and Mrs. Debbie Korngut.

All five members of this LLC have a percentage of ownership in The Villages Of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation. This group made an application to NYS DOH for Certificate of Need for 25 Assisted Living Program beds and 28 Adult Home beds.

In their application to the state they said they were “seasoned healthcare and business executives” and all bring “experience that will benefit this endeavor.”

Now let me get this straight, a facility that is currently under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services “Special Focus Facility Program” due to their lack of expertise in supplying proper PPE and proper execution of infection control measures should now be allowed to operate an assisted living and adult care home?

They have clearly demonstrated since Mr. Benjamin Landa signed the paperwork to buy the nursing home in 2014 that they do not hold any expertise in operating a well-run facility. They have failed our community. They have no local ties here. The residents are dollar signs, not fragile lives that need tender care.

Their expertise at skirting state mandates, rules and regulations, and acquiring state funding is truly what they are good at. What did they do with the $853,236 from the CDC Provider Relief Fund which they received for fighting the Covid-19 virus?

For the families who witnessed the spiral down event of the handling of Covid-19 in this facility, they will certainly agree that they felt helpless and outraged.

For the NYS Public Health and Health Planning Council to even consider the authorization for the additional beds only makes me wonder how much research have they done seeing how they hold a one-star rating which is the lowest overall rating that a nursing home can receive. A one-star rating indicates that the nursing home shows evidence of significantly poor levels of care.

The Villages is not their only nursing home that they are involved with that have this low rating, but that’s a lecture for another day.  This should be a no-go project. They should be made to demonstrate their “expertise” in managing what they currently have before moving forward. For those of us who have experienced the no hot water for years, no heat, no air conditioning, sitting for hours in feces and urine due to no staff, the mystery food on the tray and the total lack of human compassion for their staff, residents and families, we say to NYS…..review your documents again and do your job! Protect those who need us the most!

Kelly Bentley

Albion