SHENANDOAH HEIGHTS — Ridgeview Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center changed ownership two months ago, but the new owners are continuing the facility’s tradition of care for its residents and others who use its services.
Leo Gutman and Mordy Lahasky became owners of the facility on March 1, having purchased Ridgeview from Nationwide Healthcare Services LLC, which bought the health care facility in 2011. Before that, Trinity Mission operated a nursing and rehabilitation center. The building’s heritage in health care goes back to the early 1900s, when it was constructed from a local project as the Locust Mountain Memorial Hospital, and in 1926 the ownership was transferred to the commonwealth to become Locust Mountain State Hospital (later a state general hospital). The hospital was closed by the state in 1981.
Gutman and Lahasky own other facilities in Pittsburgh and Altoona, but Ridgeview is a separate, standalone operation.
“We like to let facilities function as standalone, which allows it to have the characteristics of the neighborhood that it’s located in, as opposed to having a corporate type of feel,” Gurman said. “We found that the staff functions much better because they feel that their opinion counts a lot more because it is a local facility. The other locations are very similar (to Ridgeview).”
Gutman visits Ridgeview about four days a week and spoke with The Republican-Herald this week at the facility, accompanied by Ridgeview Administrator Louise Bekisz, Director of Nursing Heather Brown and Dr. Robert J. Thurick II, certified medical director.
During a visit to Ridgeview about a year ago to make a determination of whether to purchase it, Gutman was impressed.
“The building exudes warmth,” Gutman said. “There’s a lot of warmth, and not just from the decor, which is also nice. It is nicely decorated. What I saw was a warm staff that works here. Really warm. I was highly impressed. And part of that is probably because of the area where it is located. Facilities do take on a characteristic of the area they are in.”
Gutman continued, “There is a lot of warmth that I have encountered in the last two months. A lot of the staff live in the greater Shenandoah area, and that carries over into the levels and manner of care that the residents get.”
The availability of Ridgeview was basically learned by word-of-mouth.
“Typically those things will come through the professional grapevine,” Gutman said. “Just as in real estate and other fields, there are professional folks that assist with those kind of things.”
Bekisz said about 120 people are employed at Ridgeview, with Gutman adding that makes the facility one of the largest employers in the area.
There will be some physical improvements to the facility in the near future, and time will determine what will happen in the future.
“In the not too distant future, we will be doing some upgrading and redecorating some of the rooms,” Gutman said. “This facility offers a very nice variety of services.”
Many things will not change, the first being taking care of patients who have had surgery at a hospital and need some specific care that can be handled at Ridgeview.
“There are some pretty ill folks coming out of the operating room. They can have a few hours or overnight recovery in the hospital and then they can be brought here,” Gutman said. “We have a very qualified staff to make sure those folks do not have to go back to the hospital unnecessarily. Some of the drivers (insurance) in our business today, including Medicare, do not want to see rehospitalization unnecessarily. That’s a very important word — unnecessarily. Sometimes that’s required since that’s just the nature of humans. This facility has worked hard and continues to work hard to keep the rehospitalization rates down.”
Gutman said that Ridgeview also provides vacation care to allow people who care for an elderly relative to have them stay at the facility during a time when the caregivers need or want to travel away.
“What happens to grandma and grandpa when you go on vacation? Who’s going to look after them and make sure they take their medication, make sure they go to the doctor on time, and for other care?” Gutman said. “They can come by for a week or two. We’re fortunate to have doctors on site. Dr. Thurick is our medical director, and we have frequent visits of physicians practically every day. It’s very important to have a good vacation in knowing that your loved one is being taken care of by highly qualified professionals.”
Gutman added that the facility has an on-site psychiatrist visit to lend support to the nursing staff in what they have to do.
“We have a psychiatrist that comes here twice a month and spends 35 to 40 minutes bedside talking with a patient,” Thurick said.
Thurick said that most facilities do not have a certified medical director, which is a benefit to long- and short-term residents.
“Typically we have a 15 percent better outcome,” Thurick said. “Less re-admissions, better quality care. We look at this as being an extension of the hospital and the home. We do things here that typically may only be done in a hospital or you’re too sick to stay home. It’s an extension of your home. It’s really kind of the gray area between the two in a positive way.”
Brown has been the nursing director since last July. She said there are about 15 nurses in the facility on a daily basis.
“We have a very high number of RNs (registered nurses) to take care of the needs of the patients,” Brown said.
“The higher level of staffing helps with positive outcomes,” Gutman said.
“We have physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy,” Bekisz said. “Our wound care program is exceptional. We have a machine here that I don’t think anybody has called Diapulse that’s used for wound healing, pain management and a variety of different things you can use it for. We get great results with it. The expertise of our staff is also a factor in its success.”
“We have a certified nurse practitioner who comes here weekly to do our wound rounds with us,” Brown said. “We are in the process of working with local surgeons to provide the wound care they require for their patients.”
For more information or to arrange a tour, Ridgeview can be reached at 570-462-1921.