199SEIU caregivers at Sprain Brook Manor Rehabilitation Center in Scarsdale, NY, along with nursing home residents, their families, area elected officials and community leaders held a “Town Hall” meeting on Wednesday night, bringing to light some disturbing issues of quality care at the long-term care facility. After years of frustration trying to bargain and secure a contract that could resolve many of the serious care issues, the public forum was organized by 1199 members to begin a serious community discussion about how to shift the employers’ priority from lining their own pockets for profit -- to instead -- investing in quality care and fair working conditions.

The workers say that their ability to provide quality care at the nursing home has become an ever-increasing challenge since Sprain Brook Manor was purchased in 2012 by investors Allen “Ari” Stein, Lazar Strulovitch and Leopold Schwimmer. The owners, who are collectively worth over $33 million, have withdrawn more than $3 million in equity from the nursing home. Meanwhile, they have outsourced or elimimated staff, paying little or no respect to issues of short-staffing and quality care. For years, the caregivers have been informing the owners that poor patient outcomes are tied to high staff turnover and that substandard working conditions create a revolving door of inexperienced staff who do their best to provide care under difficult circumstances. As union members, the workers have attempted to negotiate, through a collective bargaining agreement, conditions that would stabilize turnover and allow for continuity of care--but these efforts have been thwarted and instead, the situation has gotten worse. Today the nursing home faces troubling resident care problems.

Vernon Warren, a dietary aide who has worked at Sprain Brook for 14 years said, “There have been a lot of changes since 2012 when these owners took over. “I’ve worked for 5 bosses and many supervisors. A lot of staff come and go; it affects our whole operation. Dietary work requires training and some people only stay for a couple of weeks or even a couple of days. It’s difficult. I’m constantly training new people. A lot can go wrong with untrained staff. For example, diabetics have special diets and there are people that require chopped or pureed food and you have to stay on top of that. We want to provide residents with the nourishment they need. I’m filling in for things I never had to before, baking cakes and pie. Work has gone way up while pay and benefits have gone down. Vacation, sick time, benefits, everything was taken away. They even fired the entire dietary department in 2012 for being involved in pushing for a union contract. I keep up hope though. We’ve been fighting for years. I believe if we keep pushing that we’ll get the fair treatment we deserve for the work we do.”

“Quality nursing home care in Westchester is under attack by Ari Allen, Lazar Strulovich and Leopold Schwimmer, the owners of Sprainbrook Manor Rehab,” said Yvonne Armstrong, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. “We are disturbed by the priorities the owners have shown in withdrawing equity from a nursing home that faces some of the highest rates of infection and pressure sores in the state. The nursing home’s caregivers have been working at poverty rates since the owners bought the nursing home and slashed pay and benefits." Staff can’t afford to stay and provide the quality care that residents deserve. The turnover makes problems like infections worse. We’ll continue to push the owners to do the right thing—to fix working conditions and invest in resident care.”

Stabilizing staff turnover at Sprain Brook was one of the most urgent issues addressed at the forum. Further community discussion included ways to work together to improve quality long-term care in Westchester County. Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer, Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Yonkers City Council members Chris Johnson and Michael Sabatino were among the elected officials who attended the Town Hall meeting in Yonkers.

Assemblywoman Mayer said, “The employees and families of patients at Sprain Brook have raised serious questions about the quality of care at this facility. We can’t allow the mission of quality care delivery to lose out to the drive to make a profit. For the sake of the residents, and the employees, I urge the owners of Sprain Brook to comply with prior court orders while they negotiate a fair contract that reflects a commitment to fair staffing, health care for all employees, and a non-abusive work environment.”

For More Info:

www.1199seiu.org/sprainbrook

In the News

Health care union calls public meeting on Sprain Brook Manor, Westfair online

Yonkers Nursing Home Workers Issue Alert On Care, The Daily Voice

Nurses say they lack supplies for proper care, News 12 Westchester