Nursing Home Layoffs Begin Tuesday

Layoffs at the Rocky Hill Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center will start Tuesday after a judge ordered the nursing home to close in April.

Rocky Hill Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which has 120 beds, was one of 15 nursing homes owned by Haven Healthcare until 2008. CEO Ray Termini was forced to sell all of Haven’s properties after he was arrested and later convicted, Deborah Chernoff, District 1199 spokeswoman, said.

Genesis HealthCare would take over Rocky Hill Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center along with four other Haven-run nursing homes including Bishops Corner Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in West Hartford, Chernoff said. After running the nursing homes for two years, Genesis "handed the keys over" to the Department of Social Services because the homes were not profitable, Chernoff said.

“Rocky Hill and New Haven (University Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center) were the more profitable of the four homes,” Chernoff said.

The state appointed a receiver who would determine if the homes were profitable or needed to be closed. The state-appointed receiver filed a motion in Superior Court to close all four of the facilities in March and a judge decided that the homes would be closed, Chernoff said.

Residents and their families began searching for new homes after the decision was announced.  No significant layoffs were needed until Tuesday when 25 employees are expected to be laid off, Chernoff said.

“The first wave is tomorrow,” Chernoff said.  A “steady trickle of layoffs” will follow, but it is unclear exactly when the home will close, Chernoff added.

Chernoff said that the closing of the home would affect the residents the most.

“Moving from one nursing home to another is extremely traumatic for the residents,” Chernoff said. She added that the move could cause health problems or even death for some residents.

"This is like losing your home," Chernoff said. "It is essentially like being evicted." 

She added “the last few residents are the hardest to place,” because they have the most serve medical problems and need the most care, which is often the most expensive.