DARLINGTON - The county committee that oversees Lafayette Manor made some "drastic changes" to the permanent organizational structure of the troubled nursing home at a meeting Tuesday.
The first of the changes concerns management. During a joint meeting with the committee that oversees the county-run Memorial Hospital, members voted to have one administrator manage both facilities.
This change has effectively been in place since Sept. 1, when the nursing home committee suspended Manor administrator Catherine Krentz, put her on paid leave and hired hospital administrator Sherry Kudronowicz to oversee the Manor as well.
The committee also agreed to create an assistant administrator position at the Manor. The county will advertise for this position soon, according to nursing home committee chairman David Halloran.
Halloran described the structural change as part of "drastic" and permanent measure that will help the hospital and nursing home work together "in a relationship that can benefit both facilities."
Other changes that came out of Tuesday's meeting include:
• Hospital accounting personnel will take over accounting needs for both facilities, after Manor accountant Brenda Glendenning resigns at the end of October.
• Judy Gobeli is appointed Director of Nursing at the Manor. She previously worked as the Manor's MDS (Minimum Data Set) coordinator, overseeing the documentation of clinical assessments for Medicare and Medicaid patients. The committee is discontinuing this position and in its stead hiring several med techs or nurses to cover the same work.
• The committee approved an indefinite contract for consultant Julie Chikowski to help the Manor and Memorial Hospital through the transition and act as a "go-between" for the nursing home as it responds to state health violations.
Also approved at the meeting were repairs for the Manor's boiler system and roof.
The boiler system repair alone could cost up to $35,000, Halloran said, adding that the repair investments demonstrate the county isn't giving up on the nursing home.
"We have a commitment to the Manor," he said.
The first of the changes concerns management. During a joint meeting with the committee that oversees the county-run Memorial Hospital, members voted to have one administrator manage both facilities.
This change has effectively been in place since Sept. 1, when the nursing home committee suspended Manor administrator Catherine Krentz, put her on paid leave and hired hospital administrator Sherry Kudronowicz to oversee the Manor as well.
The committee also agreed to create an assistant administrator position at the Manor. The county will advertise for this position soon, according to nursing home committee chairman David Halloran.
Halloran described the structural change as part of "drastic" and permanent measure that will help the hospital and nursing home work together "in a relationship that can benefit both facilities."
Other changes that came out of Tuesday's meeting include:
• Hospital accounting personnel will take over accounting needs for both facilities, after Manor accountant Brenda Glendenning resigns at the end of October.
• Judy Gobeli is appointed Director of Nursing at the Manor. She previously worked as the Manor's MDS (Minimum Data Set) coordinator, overseeing the documentation of clinical assessments for Medicare and Medicaid patients. The committee is discontinuing this position and in its stead hiring several med techs or nurses to cover the same work.
• The committee approved an indefinite contract for consultant Julie Chikowski to help the Manor and Memorial Hospital through the transition and act as a "go-between" for the nursing home as it responds to state health violations.
Also approved at the meeting were repairs for the Manor's boiler system and roof.
The boiler system repair alone could cost up to $35,000, Halloran said, adding that the repair investments demonstrate the county isn't giving up on the nursing home.
"We have a commitment to the Manor," he said.