At strike-torn rehab center patients' kin wait, worry

By N. Clark Judd

Families of some patients at Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation Center are concerned about the care their loved ones are getting.

Members of 1199 SEIU have been on strike at the nursing home since late February, when, after months without benefits and years without a contract, they claimed the home's owner was guilty of unfair labor practices and marched to the picket line. According to union members, who have made a sport out of taunting the temporary workers who have replaced them, the home has experienced high employee turnover ever since.

Some nursing home visitors have developed relationships over the years with some of the union members who cared for their relatives prior to the strike. Several are concerned about having their loved ones in the hands of strangers, and some are making more frequent visits to ensure their family members are well cared for.

"I'm trying to figure out what kind of meal is lima beans and pizza," Rose Talbert snapped as she walked away from the nursing home on Mother's Day, May 11. Her adult son, William, saw his grandmother's meal chart, he said. The main course was pizza, with lima bean soup for an appetizer.

Surprise visit

Ms. Talbert was suspicious of the home's management. She thought the home may have been cleaned up in preparation for Mother's Day, and that her mother might not normally be as well cared-for.

"I've got to make a surprise visit," she said.

Another man, there on Mother's Day to visit his uncle, said his uncle had noticed a change in the staffing.

"It's clean," the man, who gave only his first name, Jose, said, "but the nursing department is not the same."

Gloria Gonzalez, there to visit her mother-in-law, said she had also noticed a recent change.

"She's losing weight," she said of her mother-in-law. "It's like they don't feed her."

"It's like night and day," Nelson Martinez said of his mother, Ms. Gonzalez's mother-in-law. "It's not the same as before."

Mr. Martinez says that his mother's problems are complicated. She has vision problems, occasionally runs into things, and is unable to feed herself. He said he saw food on the table next to her, but nobody there to feed it to her.

He wants to transfer his mother out of the home, he says, but the home reported that she was aggressive to other residents - reports he disputes - and he now cannot find another home to take her.

Union advocate

The strike didn't just galvanize Stan Funches to visit his aunt every day - it also spurred him to become an advocate for the union. He spoke at a union rally in March and appears in a video on their Web site.

His aunt can only eat pureed food, he said, "but some of the other patients, some of the meals that come up look pretty awful."

Mr. Funches said he sees a high staff turnover in the home - and it's having consequences.

"I don't know if this is peculiar to her floor or not, but because they don't have as many CNAs [ certified nurse assistants] up there or not, they don't really utilize the day room anymore," he said.

Mr. Funches said he has seen the day room in use on other floors, but his aunt's floor is almost empty. He thinks the home's administration has decided to shut down that floor, but its emptiness, and a lack of contact with the folks now working in the home, is affecting the patients.

"I at least speak to the people when I'm there because they look so lonesome," Mr. Funches said, adding earlier that he thought less personal contact was making patients "lethargic."

"Obviously nobody's talking to them, and they're sort of left in their own little world," he said.

According to Health Department records, an April inspection found 12 deficiencies at the nursing home, none of which were related to actual harm or immediate jeopardy. There were an average of 23 deficiencies per nursing home statewide.

Adequate care

Mr. Funches, like several of those interviewed, believes his loved one is receiving adequate care - but thinks that is in part because he's there so often.

"It's one of the reasons I go every day, to try and head off any situation before it gets bad," he said.

It is difficult to find someone to speak on Ms. Sieger's behalf. Two attorneys she has had in recent months, Joel Cohen and David Jasinski, no longer represent her.

Jacob Perles, the nursing home's current administrator, said earlier this month that he would be able to talk with reporters. Subsequently, he didn't return phone calls until Monday, when he said the nursing home's general counsel - whom he would not name - had advised him not to speak to The Riverdale Press.

This is part of the May 22, 2008 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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