Workers, community leaders mobilize to save Bannister

Standing Together: Bannister House workers march with supporters toward the Rhode Island Statehouse on April 16 on its 125th anniversary, as part of a communitywide effort to prevent its closure. / COURTESY ?BARBARA ?HUNGER
Standing Together: Bannister House workers march with supporters toward the Rhode Island Statehouse on April 16 on its 125th anniversary, as part of a communitywide effort to prevent its closure. / COURTESY ?BARBARA ?HUNGER

On April 7, nine days shy of the Bannister House’s 125th anniversary, residents and employers learned that the board of trustees had moved to shutter the long-term nursing home facility in Providence, citing more than $2 million in debt.

Workers and the union “immediately” mobilized, said Richard Land, the court-appointed receiver and an attorney with the law firm Chace Ruttenberg & Freedman LLP. The turnaround came quickly, Land said, primarily because of the union.

“The union immediately expressed they wanted to try to keep the home open,” Land said, which led quickly to interest from several third parties to acquire the facility.

“Our approach was just to get the message out by any means necessary that the workers there wanted to keep the nursing home open,” said Emmanuel Falck, director for the Rhode Island SIEU State Council, which coordinates activities for District Union Local 1199 SIEU New England. “We talked to anyone that would listen. We put together a rapid response.”

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Community leaders also mobilized, organizing an April 16 march to mark the anniversary and draw attention to the plight of 80 residents and 125 employees. Workers, community allies and elected officials marched from Bannister House in Providence’s West End to the Christiana Bannister statue on the second floor of the Statehouse.

The march, which otherwise would have been an historic celebration, was imbued with “a little more urgency because of the potential closure,” said Falck. “Providence can’t really afford to have [those] jobs just disappear right now. A majority of the workers live in Providence. Most of them have families here.”

The march proved to be “very motivating,” said employee Shirley Lomba, who has worked there for 12 years, “because we had a lot of workers and family members of the residents participating and we felt really good about it.”

Later that night, the Providence City Council unanimously passed a resolution sponsored by Council President Luis Aponte to “find a compassionate solution to keep Bannister House operating in Providence.”

“Once people found out Bannister was in serious trouble, people mobilized, especially the political leadership, to keep it open,” said Falck.

By mid-April, Land had rescinded the closure plan and allowed the nursing home to again accept new patients. On May 11, a Superior Court judge approved a management plan by Bronx, N.Y., firm Centers Health Care. Consideration of their $1.1 million purchase proposal and others could come in June, Land said.

Residents and staff “are feeling very good” about the latest developments, said Lomba. “We’re optimistic that there’s going to be a new buyer and help.”

The majority of residents have Medicaid and there are very few, “if any,” private-pay residents, said Falck. “It just means Medicaid pays less than private insurance for each day someone’s in there.”

Sen. Harold Metts, D-Providence, noted: “The primary concern is if they shut down, the patients they have now are the poorest of the poor and … I don’t even know if reimbursements by the state cover the cost. If they shut down and have to move these patients, it’s my concern whether the other [nursing homes] would [take] them.”

The receiver couldn’t speculate as to why there’s so much interest in the property.

“Obviously, the nursing home is losing money,” Land explained. “There are other issues involving this particular home: it’s not the most modern facility, although overall, internally, it’s in good shape.”

Substandard care is not a reason for the trustees’ initial decision to shut down, Land added.

Lawmakers and the union representative say, however, that many of the 100 or so union workers (the remaining 25 are management or nonunion) have been at the home 10 or more years and have built relationships with the residents and one another.

“The level of care has been 100 percent,” said Rep. Anastasia Williams, D-Providence. “Our primary concern was the service [for] the residents that had been there and the potential ones that could get there, as well as [for] the workers.”

Officials from R.I. Executive Office of Health & Human Services have met with the Bannister House receiver several times and have been “kept in the loop” with developments at the facility, now that a buyer is being sought and plans for closure are on hold, said Michael Raia, spokesman for the department.

“Now,” Falck added, “we’ll continue to work with the stakeholders and community and receiver and hopefully we can work together with one of the buyers who is interested.”

The decision by the court to approve a buyer typically takes one to three months. The R.I. Department of Health also has to approve any acquisition plan, which could take three to four months, Land said. •

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