OAKMONT, Pa. — An Allegheny County nursing center is abruptly closing its doors, leaving their residents to find other accommodations and some of their staff to look for other employment.
Channel 11 first received an anonymous tip last week, stating that the Oakmont Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation would be closing.
We spoke to staff there who told us they were given the unsettling news via text message, while some residents were told in a letter.
“They waited for Christmas to tell us this. Our residents are completely hurt,” said one aide.
A copy of the 60-day notice of discharge, given to Channel 11 by one of the center’s employees, dated Dec. 14, states that the facility will cease operations on or before Feb. 13.
“Rooms are empty, beds are gone,” said another employee. “I think it’s going to actually close right after Christmas.”
Staff at the Oakmont Center also tell Channel 11 that within the last few days, more than 20 of the nearly 75 elderly patients that live there have been moved out abruptly.
“A lot of them don’t understand. They don’t have that cognitive ability to make these decisions; a lot of these people don’t have families. They are still human,” said nurse Luann Cackowski.
“We have residents that are coming down to us crying, and the kick is we aren’t allowed to them about it,” said another staff member.
Channel 11 made several attempts to contact the center and ask what’s going on. However, our calls have yet to be retuned, and when we stopped by in person, on two separate occasions, management told us “no comment” and then asked us to leave.
However, the Office of the State Long-Term Care’s ombudsman confirmed the closure, saying they have been notified.
In the meantime, those that work at the center tell Channel 11 that, although they have to find another job, their main concern is for their now traumatized patients.
“None of them are eating; they don’t want to take their medicine. It’s a shame. “We are like a family, and to snatch something away from us, for Christmas, all of us, it’s devastating.”
As for what happens to residents next, employees at the center believe they are being moved to various other buildings within the same company.
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