‘Pause the plan’: Midstate coalition pushes to keep nursing home in county’s hands

“It’s not a radical approach. We are not asking for anything other than to slow down."

• Julia Agos/WITF
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Julia Agos was a reporter and the host of All Things Considered for WITF.

(Carlisle) — A group of midstate activists is trying to stop the sale of their county-run nursing home.

Home to some 200 people, Claremont Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Cumberland County is slated to be sold to a private company at the end of the month.

The county commissioners came up with the plan to sell the facility in October 2020, citing steep financial losses. They say in order to maintain operations, the county would have to increase property taxes by as much as 14 percent.

“Our primary objective is to ensure the long-term viability of Claremont, to continue to provide a high quality of care for our residents, and a positive work environment for our employees,” Commissioner Jean Foschi said in a statement.

But a coalition called Citizens Saving Claremont has been mounting an opposition campaign with TV ads and yard signs that say: “Keep Claremont in county hands, Pause the plan.”

“It’s not a radical approach. We are not asking for anything other than to slow down,” Carlisle resident Mark Price said.

Price, who is a labor economist for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, worries a for-profit system could lead to job losses and a drop in the quality of care.

Claremont is one of 20 county-run nursing homes in the commonwealth. Many who live there are low-income and require constant medical attention, according to the coalition.

“At the end of the day we are all going to get old, and we are all going to need some kind of care as we age,” Price said. “Some of us will be fortunate and be able to age in place in our homes and get care that way but that’s not always possible.”

Cumberland County’s plans are part of a larger trend in the commonwealth of county-run nursing homes being put up for sale.