County Board hears fears of nursing home finances

Concerns over the financial woes of the Knox County Nursing Home were voiced by staff and union reps at Wednesday night’s county board meeting. 

It has been reported previously that the Nursing Home was $1.276M in the red.

Randy Lynch, a representative with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, criticized the board for keeping employees in the dark, saying that the taxpayers need to know.

He said the board needs to publicly tell the employees and taxpayers what is going on with the finances of the facility.

Also speaking to the board was Jodi Hanen, the Union President for the Nursing Home. She was concerned over money issues, and and the amount of mandation staff is forced to work.

“Our mandation issue is nothing new either. Some days we have more agency than our own staff working there,” said Hanen. “We have been told several times that.. we won’t be shut down. What I’m getting at is the Knox County Nursing Home is having a lot of different issues going on right now without an explanation on how they are going to be fixed.”

Finally Angel Powell, who has been employed at the nursing home since 1991, shared her concerns with the board. She called the nursing facility “home” and told the board that her family has been a part of the nursing home for decades.

Powell said that at one point three generations worked at the facility at the same time, “I have had nine family members live there. Nine. My mother worked there, my aunt’s have worked there – I had three working there. My sister works there, I work there, my son works there. We had three generations working at one time at the nursing home.”

“It is my home, it is my family. These employees, these residents… they are everything,” she said.

Powell added that she is very concerned about the nursing home and asked the board to keep the employees in the loop with what is happening.

Several board members would respond to the nursing home staff’s concerns. Board member John Hunigan said that they are listening to their concerns and are aware of what’s going on. He added they are being very active behind the scenes. Board member Dick Conklin reiterated Hunigan’s statements.

Board President Pam Davidson said that they are doing their due diligence for the taxpayers and the employees of the county. She added that the board is working across party lines and that they care about the concerns of the county.

David Erickson and Brian Freidrich said that the County Board is taking careful looks at what is happening at the Nursing Home.

Erickson said that some of the information out there was taken out of context, “The County Board is taking a careful look at what’s going on at the nursing home. We’re continued to be concerned there. I do think there’s a few things that have been taken out of context. A headline, a comment or two that I think – maybe – made the situation a bit more exaggerated than what it actually is.”

Erickson added that good discussions are taking place at Nursing Home Committee meetings and he wanted more people to be educated on what is happening.

Once the meeting got underway, several reappointments for area sanitary districts were approved, as well as the a bid and bring back item for county employee’s health, life, dental, and vision insurance.

IT upgrades were approved, as a purchase for a replacement vehicle for Knox County Coroner Mark Thomas.

There was only one change to the vehicle purchase item. It was decided that the county would not trade in the older vehicle, and instead utilize it at the landfill.

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