BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ELSMERE - The opening of three Kenton County nursing homes within the next two years will mean "a happy homecoming" for the 331 patients displaced by last year's closing of St. John's Health Care Center in Covington, an advocate for seniors said.
"Many of those individuals are going to be able to return to their home state, close to their families," said Millie Little, district ombudsman with Senior Services of Northern Kentucky. Jean Botts, a friend of a former St. John's resident, said the new nursing homes can't open soon enough.
For the past year and half, she and her sister-in-law have taken turns visiting 89-year-old Nora Dunson, their former neighbor, at her new nursing home in Norwood.
"Her daughter lives in Detroit, so we go over and see her, and help with her laundry," Mrs. Botts said. "We call her Aunt Nora. She's just like a mother to us.
"I know her daughter would be happy if (Mrs. Dunson) could move back to Kenton County, where she'd be closer to us."
In April 1997, St. John's Health Care Center had 331 patients, when the state closed the nursing home, citing concerns about health and safety.
Many of those patients were sent to nursing homes in Ohio, Indiana and even Tennessee, said State Sen. Jack Westwood, R-Erlanger. Sen. Westwood spoke at Thursday's groundbreaking for Woodcrest Manor Care Center, a 127-bed nursing home scheduled to open in Elsmere in the spring of 2000.
Closing St. John's created the risk that its beds would be distributed to other parts of the state. But the state responded to appeals from Northern Kentucky lawmakers, and allowed St. John's beds to be divided among three owners and kept in Kenton County.
"Now maybe some of those (former St. John's) residents can come home," Sen. Westwood said.
Woodcrest Manor will provide skilled - managed care, intermediate and Alzheimer care. Speech, physical, occupational and respiratory therapy also are coordinated to help patients in their rehabilitation, said Judy Arey, marketing director of congregate housing for the project's Columbus-based developer, Wallick Properties Inc. While developers could not say how many beds would be for Medicaid patients, Joe Gulling, vice president of Wallick Properties, estimated that most would be.
"We really try to serve the middle-class market," Mr. Gulling said.
Besides Woodcrest Manor, two other nursing homes are under construction to help replace the beds lost in the St. John's shutdown.
The 100-bed Village Care Center in Erlanger is scheduled to open in July. The three-story brick building is similar in design to the adjoining Baptist Village, where 21 personal care beds lost in the St. John's closing will be relocated.
Just a few miles away, ground will be broken within 60 days on the Villa Spring Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, a 140-bed facility in Erlanger. Barry Bortz, CEO for Care Spring Health Care Management, said construction is expected to take a year.
