One key to happiness for residents of nursing homes like Hudson Manor in Secaucus is predictability. People count on routines for when they get up, go to sleep, eat their meals, take their showers. This is not to say those residents in the facility – some of whom have lived here for more than 40 years – aren’t up for a treat. Many people come to the community room for events such as the recent visit of the Secaucus High School Key Club, a school civic club that brought holiday cheer to the facility. Residents can also count on a film now and then, or a card game or bingo.
People are living their lives via routines: sewing, reading, watching TV, or taking advantage of live entertainment. And the staff of the newly named Hudson Manor Healthcare Center has struggled hard since new owners took over last April to make certain the old routines and the entertainment continued uninterrupted.
Workers are everywhere. Evidence of their labor shows in the completed sections of the facility, although it is easy to see where they have left off, since the older sections still have something of a dingy appearance. The facility consists of nearly a dozen interconnected buildings, not all of them in use.
The facility operates five units, two of which are long-term. One is psychiatric, containing non-violent people. Most of the residents of the five units are very independent, and many can go outside the facility, although each door has an alarm to alert staff that someone is going in or out. Each unit is largely the same, with a dining area, bedroom, toilets and showers, and a social area.
One reason for the more home-like appearance of the already renovated sections comes from the dropped ceiling, erasing the cave-like look of the original 1962 construction.
“We’re trying to improve the environment as well as the care,” said Jeff First, the regional administrator for Onmi Healthcare Company.
The average age of residents is 75.
Political issues
Hudson Manor, previously known as the Meadowview Nursing facility, is a long-term senior citizen care facility. The building was constructed in 1962 to accommodate senior citizens and the mentally ill. The facility still has a psychiatric unit, although officials at the facility say that this population is kept separate from the senior citizens.
The Secaucus building was constructed to provide many of the services that had once been conducted at the county’s Laurel Hill location in Secaucus. It was operated by the county until 1995, when Meadowview and Pollak Hospital operations were taken over by Progressive Health Care, a private contractor based in New Brunswick.
Early in 2002, Progressive declared bankruptcy, sending county officials into hurried negotiations with other health care providers, and leaving some fearful about the fate and condition of patients at the two facilities. Although a political firestorm ensued through decision-making bodies such as the Hudson County Freeholders and the Hudson County Improvement Authority, life here has gone on pretty much as normal. Omni Asset Management Company took over management of the Meadowview Hospital in April, operating the facility for a group of private investors.
According to John Shinnick, chairman of the HCIA, Omni has extensive experience in operating facilities throughout the state, including three in Hudson County: Union City, Guttenberg and Jersey City. Each facility has 180 beds.
While First said Omni has tried to maintain services since taking over in April, changes are obvious. Ward by ward, the management company has been upgrading the facilities in order to provide a more modern and comfortable environment.
Equipment is being brought up to more modern standards, and bedrooms, treatment rooms, community rooms and hallways are painted and repaired.
First said each improvement helps shape the environment, not just for the residents, but for the employees as well. “As a result, people are happier to work here and live here,” he said.
Some of the changes amount to a face-lift of the facility, he said, but he noted that if the facility or residents need something, the company will provide it.
“Most people come here because they are poor, and it is our job to supply their healthcare needs,” he said.
A historic institution
The building was constructed in 1962 and served as a psychiatric facility until the early 1980s when its aging population and changing regulations led the county to have it certified as a nursing home. During the 1960s and 1970s the 700,000-square-foot facility housed nearly 2,000 residents.
Open wards in those days meant 100 people crowded into a single large room, sleeping side by side in barracks-style arrangements, with a central cafeteria for meals. The toilet and shower facilities, complete with tile floor, Army-green stalls, and the sense of a high school locker room, served the entire ward population. In the early 1990s, the state threatened to close the facility because it failed to meet modern standards for nursing homes.
Among the more serious problems the state listed were the lack of recreation opportunities, inadequate supervision, inadequate clothing and a malfunctioning fire alarm system. The state gave the county six months to clean up its act or lose its Medicaid reimbursements. Since the county received about $8 million from Medicaid a year at the time, failure to make the improvements might have meant closing the hospital.
In 1992, the county upgraded the hospital to meet modern privacy requirements instituted by the state. In Oct. 1992, patients here were moved temporarily to Pollak Hospital as the county brought in a mix of union workers and low-risk prisoners to do the project. The facility was designed then to handle up to 118 residents, a figure that would be expanded with a new upgrade program.
Open porches and communal showers were reconstructed. Some of these are small dining areas where patients go to receive their meals rather than taking the conventionally long walk to a central cafeteria. Linen closets and storage facilities neatly fit in with the pattern of semi-private rooms. The entire ward was handicapped equipped. New heating has been installed, as well as a new fire safety system.
But in 1995, faced with growing fiscal concerns, the county sold the operations to Progressive Health Care. During those seven years of operation, the facility deteriorated, since Progressive lacked capital for major improvements and slowly sank into debt.
In purchasing the license for the facility last year, Omni agreed to upgrade the building with the eventual goal of purchasing it from the county.
Despite all its legal woes, Meadowview’s rooms and halls are remarkably clean and well-lighted. Unlike many more successful private healthcare facilities, people and wheelchairs are not cluttering the halls. Senior citizens here do not seem abandoned to their own resources.
Change of name to reflect the difference
First said the company changed the facility’s name because of the poor reputation the previous provider had had.
“We changed the name in order to tell the community that we’re here to help the elderly,” he said. “This is a new place with a new administration.”
The facility is licensed for 214 beds. First said the facility is large. “It has been underutilized over the years,” he added.
They are just starting to upgrade, First said, expanding some areas, including the rehabilitation unit that will allow people to be treated in the facility rather than be transported out to local hospitals. This will be a “sub-acute” unit.
“The concept that people come to nursing homes to die isn’t true any more,” he said. “People come here for a variety of reasons. Some don’t even stay here. If a person has a stroke, he or she might stay at the facility to recover, simply because they don’t have 24-hour care at home.”
Many are treated here and then go home to live with a relative or even on their own. Although most of those in the facility come from Hudson County, residents can come from anywhere – although First says most seniors go to residences near to family members.
People come to the facility through several means. They can be discharged from a hospital and sent to the facility. A local doctor can send a patient. Some families in the area hear about the place by word of mouth.
“We have a good rapport with local hospital people,” First said. “We often show people the facility.”
The facility encourages family members to visit and offers a wide range of hours, including evenings and weekends.
Generally visiting hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., because elder residents tend to go to sleep early, but if relatives need to, they can make special arrangements for as late as 9 p.m.
First said the change created no trauma for residents largely because most of the staff remained the same, and the management company sought to make the transition as easy as possible.
In the past, the county owned brick and mortar, while Progressive owned the operations. Omni is in the process of buying the facility. Completed sections include the entrance and areas near those. Windows have been replaced, halls repainted, covers constructed for radiators.
“It is a step-by-step process,” First said, noting that several buildings are still vacant. “The facility could hold as many as 500 people, but only has 214.”
Because of the way the facility was originally constructed, residents have a number of options not available in other facilities in the area or the state.
The group of interconnected buildings has numerous doors out into enclosed areas, which allow for picnics and other entertainment. First predicts a host of seasonal events including musical concerts, jazz quartets, and movies under the stars.