After a proposed buyer failed to agree with the facility’s labor union, state officials approved a closure plan for Woodbury’s Cold Spring Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation, with a target closing date of May 15.
Some 70 employees have been laid off, according to a published report.
The facility has almost 600 beds but currently houses about 300 residents, approximately 30 of which rely on ventilators. Cold Spring Hills’ resident population is well above the state average, which is about 163, according to the Medicare website.
The state-approved plan indicated that the center’s staff will help residents and their families find new placements.
Efforts to reach nursing center representatives were unavailing.
The proposed buyer, Elizer Zelman, was reportedly looking to buy the facility for $10, but would not move forward with the deal until he received a modified agreement with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, representing many Cold Spring Hills employees.
The nursing home originally filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 2 after receiving a temporary restraining order from the state in December. The state health department approved Zelman to act as its temporary receiver.
Zelman was affiliated with three nursing homes in New York as of November: Achieve Rehab and Nursing Facility, Buena Vida Rehab and Nursing Center and New York Congregational Nursing Center, according to nursinghomedatabase.com.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean H. Lane approved a plan to close the facility on Feb. 14.
On Feb. 19, Valerie Deetz, deputy director of the health department’s Office of Aging and Long Term Care, reportedly approved the closure plan in a letter to center’s facility administrator Edline Severe Joseph.
Deetz was not available for comment prior to publication.
The plan calls for a target closing date of May 15 but the facility will close earlier if all residents are moved out, reports said. The plan stipulated that center employees would work with the residents to try and place them in an alternative facility that meets their needs.
Additional layoffs will continue as the center nears its close date.
Troubles for the Cold Spring Hills site first began in 2022 when state Attorney General Letitia James sued the facility for abuse and neglect. The suit said the center diverted over $22 million in Medicaid and Medicare funds, leading to resident neglect.
“Cold Spring Hills’ owners put profits over patient care and left vulnerable New Yorkers to live in heartbreaking and inhumane conditions,” James said in a 2022 press release.
In December, the center announced it would close its operations on New Year’s Eve, with plans to begin layoff employees and evacuate residents within a weeklong time frame during the holidays.
On Dec. 20, the state issued a temporary restraining order to keep staff and residents in place and maintain payroll obligations until Jan. 6. Local representatives supported the decision and said the state’s intervention was necessary.
“The State Health Department must take all steps necessary to keep the doors of this critical healthcare facility open for its residents,” Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino recently said.
