Critical condition for Rockland services POMONA — When the Rockland County-owned Summit Park Hospital & Nursing Center opened its doors in the early 1970s, demand for beds in the long-term acute care hospital and nursing home sections was so high and the facility’s reputation so pristine that prospective patients were often placed on a waiting list. Summit Park’s reputation has endured in the decades since. While demand is down due to abysmal upper-level management, CSEA members provide excellent services in the nursing home, the hospital and in the county mental health clinic housed in the hospital building. But Rockland County’s history of care for its most vulnerable residents could soon be a memory. Legislators recently approved outgoing county executive C. Scott Vanderhoef’s plan to transfer the nursing home to a local development corporation for an eventual sale. Meanwhile, the county has been proceeding with a plan for Nyack Hospital to take over its inpatient mental health services. And now, as this edition went to press, legislators snuck in an end of the year proposal that could sell off the hospital at Summit Park. Shortsighted cuts Southern Region President Billy Riccaldo said legislators are considering bad choices because of panic surrounding the county’s deficit woes. The county recently turned the corner after state officials approved a $96 million bonding deal that could help get county finances on the right track. “You could offer the legislators $5 right now for the hospital and they’d take it,” Riccaldo said. “It makes absolutely zero sense to sell this because the hospital is actually a revenue generator for the county while also providing a valuable service. This sense of desperation and panic is leading legislators to make shortsighted decisions that we will all regret in the long run. The economy will improve and our county will regret losing all of these services.” Rockland County Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell cited the nursing home bidders’ interest in the hospital as reason behind including the hospital in the nursing home sale. Continued bad choices Riccaldo noted that while county leaders grapple with budget challenges, bad management choices continue. As The Work Force went to press, the proposed 2014 budget included transfers of several managers at the nursing home to other county titles that are not expected to be affected by the LDC. “The continued cronyism is unbelievable,” Riccaldo said. “We have full-time vacancies in direct care that should be filled by existing part-time workers, but management is leaving those lines open while finding places to hide their friends.” Riccaldo also noted that the new titles proposed include a position in public relations and marketing, an addition he said is especially insulting to workers considering the hospital administration has done next Brigida Henriquez, a CSEA-represented laundry worker at the Summit Park Hospital & Nursing Care Center, prepares sheets for ironing. Henriquez is one of hundreds of middle class county workers who will be affected by county leaders’ poor decisions. to nothing in years to promote the hospital and nursing home. A public hearing on a hospital sale was slated for Dec. 30. — Jessica Ladlee CSEA member Altagracia Rosario, a laundry worker at the Rockland County-owned Summit Park Hospital & Nursing Care Center, prepares sheets for ironing. Right, Rockland County Local activist Dennis Leddy, left, and Southern Region President Billy Riccaldo survey an empty cafeteria at Summit Park Hospital & Nursing Care Center. Once busy around the clock serving residents and workers, management closed the cafeteria several years ago. CSEA member Jean Theagene, a cook at the Summit Park Hospital & Nursing Care Center, prepares chicken broth. 8 The Work Force January 2014
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