24 PA nursing homes to strike Sept. 2
SOUTH BEAVER TWP. ‒ Workers at 24 nursing homes across the state, including one in Beaver County have agreed to strike on Sept. 2 over what they call unfair labor practices.
Beaver Valley Healthcare and Rehab in South Beaver Township, owned by Guardian Healthcare, is listed as one of the facilities impacted by Monday's vote by Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania members. The union alleges Guardian Healthcare and two chains owned by Mordy Lahasky — Comprehensive Healthcare and Priority Healthcare — failed to provide information about agency staffing and costs and have not bargained in good faith, according to a Tuesday release from the SEIU.
Comprehensive Healthcare is the owner of the embattled Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Brighton Township, which recently was the subject of a federal indictment on charges of health care fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States government. Five administrators associated with the Beaver County nursing home and an affiliated facility in Mount Lebanon were named in the indictment.
Brighton Rehab troublesBrighton Rehab faces federal health care fraud charges
Brighton Rehab and owner Comprehensive Health Care Services also are named in multiple state and federal lawsuits related to mishandling of the site’s COVID-19 outbreak, patient neglect and past administrative mismanagement. The nursing home was once the site of Pennsylvania’s largest COVID-19 outbreak and one of the deadliest nursing home outbreaks in the nation.
The closest Comprehensive Health Care Services facility participating in the strike is in Lawrence County, The Grove at New Castle.
The complete list of nursing homes affected are as follows:
Comprehensive Healthcare
The Grove at Irwin: 249 Maus Drive Irwin, PA 15642
The Grove at New Castle: 715 Harbor St. New Castle, PA 16101
The Grove at Harmony: 191 Evergreen Mill Road Harmony, PA 16037
The Grove at Washington: 1198 W Wylie Ave. Washington, PA 15301
Guardian Healthcare
Beaver Valley Healthcare & Rehab: 257 Georgetown Road Beaver Falls, PA 15010
Clarion Health & Rehab: 999 Heidrick St. Clarion, PA 16214
Meyersdale Healthcare & Rehab: 201 Hospital Drive Meyersdale, PA 15552
Oil City Healthcare & Rehab: 1293 Grandview Road Oil City, PA 16301
Riverside Rehab & Nursing: 500 Hospital St. Taylor, PA 18517
Titusville Healthcare & Rehab: 81 W Dillon Drive Titusville, PA 16354
Uniontown Healthcare & Rehab: 129 Franklin Ave. Uniontown, PA 15401
Guardian Elder Care at Nanticoke: 159 Old Newport St. #151 Nanticoke, PA 18634
Richland Healthcare & Rehab: 349 Vo Tech Drive Johnstown, PA 15904
Belair Healthcare & Rehab: 100 Little Drive Lower Burrell, PA 15068
Priority Healthcare
The Meadows at Blue Ridge: 10 House Ave. Camp Hill, PA 17011
The Meadows at West Shore: 770 Poplar Church Road Camp Hill, PA 17011
The Gardens at Easton/Praxis: 500 Washington St. Easton, PA 18042
Rose City Nursing & Rehab at Lancaster: 425 N Duke St. #4905 Lancaster, PA 17602
The Meadows at York Terrace: 2401 W Market St. Pottsville, PA 17901
Fairlane Gardens Nursing & Rehab at Reading: 21 Fairlane Road Reading, PA 19606
The Gardens at Wyoming Valley (Summit): 50 N Pennsylvania Ave. Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701
The Gardens at East Mountain: 101 E Mountain Blvd. Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702
The Meadows at Stroud: 221 E Brown St. East Stroudsburg, PA 18301
Other ownership
Shenandoah Heights Healthcare: 200 Pennsylvania Ave. Shenandoah, PA 17976
"Comprehensive and Priority also appear to lack a functioning phone number or email for concerned families to contact them, despite Lahasky having ownership in at least 58 nursing homes statewide, and nearly 200 across the country," The SEIU reported. "Fifteen facilities Lahasky co-owns are subject to ongoing litigation over wage theft involving hundreds of employees. Guardian Healthcare paid $15.5 million in 2020 to settle claims that it had defrauded Medicare by providing unnecessary medical treatment to residents just to boost its revenue and profits."
The SEIU claims in its release that the companies have refused to meaningfully bargain over the use of agency staff or include the regulatory staffing ratios set to go into effect this year in the contracts. The union said they also are offering even lower raises than last year, despite nursing homes receiving a $600 million investment in funding from the state budget.
"The money, much of it recurring, is taxpayer dollars and comes with accountability to ensure 70% goes to staffing and bedside care," the release said.
“We cannot allow nursing home owners to be unaccountable, refuse to negotiate fair contracts, or profit off of our most vulnerable and the workers who care for them,” Matthew Yarnell, president of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, said in the release. “As the largest union of healthcare workers in Pennsylvania, our members will do whatever it takes to protect their residents and demand the investment into their jobs that they deserve.”
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Beaver Valley Healthcare and Rehab nurses among those set to strike
