Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog
A local man is using the power of the web to keep Pleasant Valley Manor Nursing Home in county hands. His decision to take action came about two weeks ago when he read in the Pocono Record that Monroe County Commissioners said that not “one more dollar of tax should go to Pleasant Valley Manor.”
In each of the past two years, $1 million in county taxpayer subsidies have been provided to the 174-bed nonprofit nursing home. Commissioners feel that something must be done to reduce or eliminate losses at the nursing home, and have discussed selling the home to a private, for-profit corportation. A decision on whether to sell the home could be a year away.
If the home goes into private hands, there are fears that a private operator may reduce staff or neglect residents. The majority of residents count on federal and state Medicare and Medicaid payments to pay their bills. But those payments have been reduced, resulting in a loss of about $100 a day per patient.
A website has been started to save Pleasant Valley Manor. According to an article on the PoconoRecord.com, the site provides information and facts, and allows visitors to ask questions, all to make the public aware of what’s happening before the home is put up for sale. Creators of the website hope to follow the lead of supporters who stopped Gracedale, the Northampton County nursing home in Nazareth, from being sold. When a referendum was placed on the ballot in 2011, residents voted by a 3-to-1 margin to keep the county home.