Executive board members from the St. Louis City Senior Fund voted unanimously Tuesday to allocate up to $174,000 for some Northview Village nursing home residents who were displaced a week ago when the facility suddenly closed.
During a special meeting, St. Louis City Senior Fund Executive Director Jamie Opsal said someone came into the nursing home after it closed on Dec. 15 and ransacked the facility, stealing residents’ televisions, telephones and other personal items. Residents were out of the building by the following day.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services transferred 175 residents to 14 different nursing homes — 10 of which are in the city of St. Louis, board members said Tuesday. But many were transferred without any of their belongings or their medical charts, and with only the clothes on their back, Opsal said.
“There was one person who was moved with no pants, no shoes, no socks, and a lot of their personal items were stolen,” Opsal said Tuesday.
The allocated funds will be used for case management services for about 85 residents who are 60 and older, as well as to help replace basic items like toiletry and clothing.
City leaders said they are currently working to organize case managers among the senior fund, the city’s Mental Health Board and the city Department of Human Services. Caseworkers will visit one-on-one with all 175 residents who are now spread across the various facilities.
Opsal said they are in the process of contacting the nursing homes to find the proper time for case managers to visit. Residents will be asked where they’d like to stay and about any items that were stolen.
Legally, residents have the right to choose where they’d like to live, leaders said.
The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri is helping with fundraising efforts for employees who lost their jobs, but Opsal said Tuesday she wondered about fundraising for displaced residents.
“We weren't quite sure what was happening to help residents at these facilities,” she said. “In conversations with the Department of Human Services, we started putting together a plan, and we’re in touch with United Way to do some sort of fundraising effort.
“In the meantime, the mental health board is holding an emergency meeting today to discuss funding opportunities for residents under 60.”
Mayor Tishuara Jones, local officials and employees who lost their jobs criticized the facility’s owners and management during a rally last week for failing to notify workers and shutting down the nursing home just over a week before Christmas.
St. Louis Public Radio’s Sarah Fentem previously reported that Mark and Lorraine Suissa each own 26% ownership stakes in the business, along with others who own smaller percentages.
Records from the Missouri Secretary of State’s office list the same Chicago address for both Suissas. Jones called for the owners of the facility to be held accountable and said the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment will hold emergency job fairs to assist the displaced workers.
Senior Fund Executive Board Chair Bill Seidoff said during Tuesday’s meeting that an accounting method will be set up to identify how the senior funds will be handled. He also expressed concern about the matter in general.
“It’s really been a very sad situation to watch,” he said.
