Two nursing homes face closure

Just before Thanksgiving, devastating news hits a pair of local nursing homes.

Patients are being forced to move and jobs will be lost.

This is really bad news for poor people.

We know one nursing home operated by Catholic Health is going to close by the end of the year.

Now Kaleida has filed a plan that could lead to the closure of a west side home next year.

The St. Francis of Buffalo Nursing home on Benwood Avenue is just weeks away from closing its doors for good.

Catholic Health spokesperson Dennis McCarthy explained, "All the nursing homes in western New York that see a lot of Medicaid patients, lose money. And you can only do that so long."

The impact of the move will be felt by 109 residents and 180 employees.

Now the plan is to close this nursing home by the end of the year. The bottom line is money. You see, the aid coming in from Albany isn't enough to keep this facility financially healthy.

"I think what we get, the last time I checked, we get less than 80 cents on the dollar of what it costs to take care of a Medicaid patient," said McCarthy.

Medicaid covers people with low incomes.

"The closures are just the tip of the iceberg," added Todd Hobler, SEIU Local 1199 Vice President.

The SEIU Local 1199 union represents employees at St. Francis and the Waterfront Skilled Nursing Facility. News 4 spoke with him after Kaleida Health announced it has filed plans to close the west side home.

Hobler said, "We've gone from about 3,000 long term care beds in the city of Buffalo to about 1,800. And I'm not sure where these residents are going to go."

"If Waterfront closes, we will have no long term care facilities on the west side," added Hobler.

The SEIU says 160 residents and 200 employees will be affected by a closure. Kaleida is losing money. So is St. Francis which lost $1.5 million in 2007, $1.3 million in 2008 and $1.6 million so far this year.

McCarthy said, "This will be the third nursing home to close in the city of Buffalo in the last three years and they are all Medicaid reliant facilities."