Health center transfers Friday
Members of Washington County board of commissioners Wednesday morning sign documents related to the sale of the health center to Premier Healthcare Managemetn LLC.
Washington County Health Center
County ownership of a succession of institutions dating to 1830 in Arden, Chartiers Township, appears to be about to come to a close this week with the sale of the health center.
The county commissioners signed a stack of documents Wednesday in preparation for the transfer of the Washington County Health Center property to a private, for-profit entity at 12:01 a.m. Friday, a delay of nearly three weeks from the original target date.
The commissioners in June chose Premier Healthcare Management LLC of Philadelphia, which offered $26.9 million, as the purchaser of the 288-bed facility.
“Everything’s set for them to take over Oct. 20,” commission Chairman Larry Maggi said Wednesday morning. The final documents reportedly contained minor revisions, but the sale price and size of the property at 36 Old Hickory Ridge Road – approximately 19 acres – remains the same.
In a related development, employees of the health center who were not mailed termination notices were deemed to have been hired by Premier.
A memo from the health center administration dated Oct. 12 and posted at the facility reads, “If you do not receive a certified letter from Premier Washington Health Center on or before Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 – Congratulations!!! You have been accepted as an employee of Premier Washington Health Center. Since your work schedule has not changed for Friday, Oct. 20, through Sunday, Oct. 22, please report for your next scheduled shift …”
Premier outsourced the health center’s laundry, housekeeping and dietary departments to Healthcare Services Group Inc. of Bensalem, Bucks County.
The Washington County salary book lists the lowest salary for a laundry worker at $37,356. The health center rank and file are members of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania. While not specifying the county health center, Premier’s website lists job openings for cooks, dietary aides, light and heavy housekeeping, registered dietician and manager-in-training for environmental services.
The health center is 40 years old, but its predecessors, the Washington County homes for aged men and aged women, and the county poorhouse and poor farm date back 186 years because the state gave to the county commissioners the task of caring for the indigent.
Records show the poorhouse sheltered not only adults, but also children, some of whom were orphans; those labeled insane; and the physically disabled. A pauper’s burial ground will remain county property.
The poorhouse and children’s home weren’t just places to live. Established on 172 acres, they also were a workplace, hence the name “poor farm.” The aim of the poor farm was to be self-sustaining.
The tables turned, however, and the health center could no longer sustain itself, let alone turn a profit for the county.
After years of a steady stream of red ink that began in 2012, it became apparent in late November that the commissioners were preparing to end their ownership of the health center. Losses since 2012 were pegged at $9 million.