A troubled nursing home in Horseshoe Bend will close after a corporate operator told the home's staff that it will withdraw from the property after moving in two months ago.
Staff members learned Tuesday that Georgia-based Marsh Pointe Management will no longer operate or send supplies to South Bend Nursing, citing regulatory problems, director of nursing Amy Smith said in an interview.
Home administrators have activated an emergency plan to relocate 21 people who live there before supplies run out.
"This is devastating to not only our staff, our town, but also our residents," Smith said, adding that the people living there were "absolutely crushed" by the news.
Staff members' goal is to find new placements for clients by Friday, she said. Residents and families will choose where they go, but the home has partnerships with care sites in Batesville, Cave City and Ash Flat, which are options, the nursing director said.
Smith said the Marsh Pointe company moved to take control of the 78-bed home -- known as Diamond Cove, until recently -- in October, after a previous operator had trouble paying vendors.
Marsh Pointe officials then told the Horseshoe Bend property's administrators that the state's Office of Long Term Care, which oversees nursing homes, denied their application to officially run the property, for reasons unknown to Smith.
Department of Human Services spokesmen did not immediately respond to an inquiry Tuesday afternoon to confirm that account.
A phone number for Marsh Pointe Management listed in state records does not work, and one of its officials did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.
Including full-time, part-time and on-call employees, about 40 people will lose their jobs at the home. Workers were told they will be paid until operations cease, but have not been offered severance, Smith said.
As of Tuesday, staff members had not been given a firm closure date nor a final move-out date for residents.
"We're just trying to get this done as smoothly and quickly as possible for all of these family members, all of these residents, all of our staff, so that no one is negatively affected," Smith said.
The closure of the Horseshoe Bend facility comes at a time of heightened scrutiny on nursing homes in Arkansas, after the state's Human Services Department in September and October seized five struggling properties to prevent their collapse.
The Marsh Pointe Management group has ties to at least two other long-term care facilities in Arkansas, including homes in Lonoke and Hazen. The company also is connected to properties in Oklahoma.
The Horseshoe Bend property is among state homes that regulators have flagged for quality-of-care problems in recent years. It has been fined more than $19,000 for violations since 2017 and is identified as a "special focus facility" by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
That program is for homes with "serious quality issues," as defined by the agency, including more problems, more serious problems or issues that recur over a long period of time.
Since October 2018, the home has been inspected three times by federal regulators after complaints, according to reports available on government databases. Its most recent complaint inspection took place in July, when an inspector noted problems with fly infestation where residents were eating.
In June, home administrator Shelly Draper said the facility was working to make improvements and was being monitored monthly.
Smith, who worked at the home for two years, described it as a "very small, close-knit" group and said many were hopeful that its closure was temporary.
"When I say that this is like a home for these people, it's not just our residents -- it's our staff, as well," she said. "This is something that is breaking up our community."
Metro on 12/04/2019