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Elderly care facility lacks funds, residents search for new home
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, May 30, 2009
Residents living in an Akron assisted-living facility will have another week before having to find a new home.
The board of the nonprofit Arlington Housing Options Plus Elderly Services (AHOPES) facility has decided to close the facility, but the board also has agreed to give the home's 30 residents until June 6 to find a new place to live.
Chairman Joseph W. White Jr. said the board wanted to make sure families have time to help their loved ones.
A proposal by Richfield Township businessman Abe Brown to loan the organization enough money to keep it open was rejected, White said.
''We just don't have the resources to operate at a quality level we are comfortable with,'' he said.
Akron City Council is considering a proposal that would forgive a $250,000 loan the city made to the assisted living facility and to help the organization find a new operator.
Akron Planning Director John Moore said the city had discussions with Fifth
Third Bancorp to restructure a $2.3 million loan that the facility took out for an expansion earlier this decade.
Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville said it is likely that council will assist AHOPES by providing it about $15,000 to help pay final bills.
''The city's position is we are concerned about the residents,'' Sommerville said.
Over the past 18 years, the organization has received more than $175,000 in grants from area foundations, including the Akron Community Foundation, the Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Jacquelyn Thurman, executive director of AHOPES, said she is hopeful the facility can remain open, but said residents have to make plans to move elsewhere should the closure happen.
''We are in pretty good spirits,'' she said.
Brown, a deacon at Arlington Church of God, which started the housing project as a mission of the church, also said he hopes the facility can be kept alive.
''Still hopeful,'' he said. ''Someone has to be.''
Brown said he is ''not giving up''
''God has put on our hearts to help these people and do everything we can to still try,'' he said.
Brown has made a proposal to the AHOPES board that would offer a loan to keep the facility open and cover shortfalls. He compared the AHOPES situation to Hurricane Katrina in that ''poor people waited and waited for help to come.''
Thurman said the organization is facing an order by the Ohio Department of Health to add additional staff at a cost of several thousand dollars a month.
The state, according to public documents, has issued several critical reports on the facility over the past several years.
In February, the agency was critical of the cleanliness of the facility and of the record keeping of disposition of medication to residents.
In January 2008, the state found the facility was not in compliance with dietary regulations and specifically mentioned that food was not heated properly. The agency further stated that milk was not offered to each resident, and that AHOPES failed to provide meals according to the menu planned to meet residents' daily nutritional needs.
The state also found that the food preparation area was not cleaned properly and dish washing was not up to standards.
In the same report, the state concluded the facility was not in compliance with a criminal check provision of employees and was not in compliance with provisions to have proper medical personnel on duty to administer medications and observe medication acceptance and reaction.
The same report said that during an inspection, a nurse aide was administering medications, which is not allowed by state law.
A report from August 2005, found that the facility failed to provide a locked area for prescription medications requiring refrigeration.
Thurman said AHOPES has addressed and resolved these issues and is now ''100 percent in compliance.''
To meet its financial obligations, Thurman said, AHOPES needs to collect $1,600 to $2,000 from each resident. The average payment is about $1,100 a month.
According to the Ohio Association of Area Agencies on Aging, costs of assisted living ''generally ranges from $3,500 to $4,000 a month.''
Deborah Cheatham, administrator of the University Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center on East Market Street, said her facility has been talking with the families of at least 10 AHOPES residents seeking a new home.
''We could probably take up to 20 residents,'' she said.
AHOPES began 27 years ago as a church-sponsored group home and then as an independent-living facility. It became a state-regulated assisted-living facility about five years ago, when a building expansion occurred.
Ron Towne, attorney for the AHOPES board, said the problem is the organization ''has been hemorrhaging'' money for a long time.
White, the retired executive director of the Summit County Children Services Board, said the decision to close by the board was driven by the welfare of the residents.
''This is not an easy decision for the board,'' he said.
The Rev. Ronald J. Fowler, who served as senior pastor of Arlington Church of God for 39 years and is now on the AHOPES board, said he wishes the facility could stay open ''but financially it can't.''
''The debt is just too great,'' he said. ''You hate to make that call but at some point you have to make it.''
Ethel Satterwhite, whose 95-year-old father, Fred Gary, lives at AHOPES, said she still does not know where her father will go if and when AHOPES closes.
''The residents don't want AHOPES to close,'' she said.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
Residents living in an Akron assisted-living facility will have another week before having to find a new home.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 07:08 AM, 05/30/2009
I feel bad about the folks that live at AHOPES, but throwin' good money after bad isn't the solution.
Akron City council needs to pass a resolution that stipulates that they don't spend money on losin' propositions.
OH wait, silly me, that's what they and the city hall hero do.
{{{''The city's position is we are concerned about the residents,'' Sommerville said.}}}
Iff'nm only Marco Polo and the city were concerned about all of the residents of the city.
I'd like to see AHOPES solve their problem through private financin' and donations, at this point.
Akron, OH
Posted 11:40 AM, 05/30/2009
People...
PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE WORDS AND ACTIONS OF MARCO SOMMERVILLE.
The ABJ story tells us:
1) AHOPES just rejected a loan offer from a Richfield business man that would keep the nursing home in operation.
2) According to the AHOPES Chairman, the businessman loan was rejected because "We just don't have the resources to operate at a quality level we are comfortable with."
3) AHOPES owes Fifth Third Bancorp $2.3 million.
4) AHOPES owes the City of Akron $250,000 (which is the full amount of a loan made 2 weeks before the last Municipal election, as reported previously by the ABJ)
5) AHOPES extended its planned closing date, which will now be June 6.
6) MARCO SOMMERVILLE wants Akron Taxpayers to take it in the shorts again, by forgiving the entire $1/4 MILLION loan made just 19 months ago and
7) MARCO SOMMERVILLE wants to throw good money after bad, by giving AHOPES another $15,000 of Akron taxpayer dollars "to help pay final bills".
HELLO MARCO!
AKRON TAXPAYERS are the 2nd largest creditor to AHOPES.
WHY IN THE WORLD would taxpayers want YOU to forgive $250,000 in debt (they have buildings and property that has value) and WHY IN THE HELL would taxpayers want to give AHOPE ANOTHER $15,000 that will never be recovered?
Perhaps the economy in your "Stab and Slab" business is good, but the rest of us are struggling out here.
Quit giving away OUR money!
If you want to help AHOPES, take the cash out of YOUR pocket Marco!
Akron, OH
Posted 04:23 PM, 05/30/2009
The $250,000 loan forgiveness and the $15,000 to pay other people's bills are on the Monday, June 1st City Council agenda.
Of course, conveniently, the agenda doesn't mention the huge dollar amounts involved.
Call your Ward Councilperson. Call all 3 of the At-Large Councilpersons.
Tell them to vote NO on line item #5 from Terry Albanese's "Economic Development & Job Creation" commitee which reads:
============
(5) Ordinance authorizing the expenditure of funds necessary to assist in the acquisition of the AHOPES facility at 838 Coburn Street by a qualified assisted living provider
and
to provide relocation assistance to the residents of said facility
and
authorizing the City to forgive the loan the City provided AHOPES in 2007
and
declaring an emergency.
============
A "NO" vote on this item saves Akron Taxpayers $265,000.
That savings will pay for the full cost of the recall with $90,000 to spare.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:31 AM, 06/01/2009
This whole situation is so irresponsible. I am just dumbfounded by the number of people quoted in this article who have known that AHOPES was in serious debt, but have done nothing. Now they are "hoping" and "praying" for some miracle resolution. Quit "hoping" and start "DOING" something.
