Dr. Larry Joe Russell, in a newspaper article from the Hendersonville Times News " What we've got is a group of doc's who basically have a local interest in Henderson County. "
The article ran in the Hendersonville Times News on November 30, 2007. Written by Scott Parrott, it was titled " Doctors bid $8.45 million for center. "
According to the article, Hendersonville Physicians and Associates LLC had the highest of fourteen bids. The article names, Dr. Larry Loe Russell, Dr. Amal Das, Dr. David Mackel, Dr. Stuart Glassman, Dr. Stephen Lackey, Linda Brooks FNP, Ed Baber a physicans assistant and his father Larry Baber, owner of Whitly Drugs. All owners of Hendersonville physicians and Associates.
Then it goes on, "The local connection gives the group a better understanding of the needs of the employees, clients, and families at the care center he said. " Another section states something about having an ownership that literally shops at Wal-Mart and Ingles, right alongside employees and families that have loved ones at the facility. "We're more accessible, we're right here, and I think that gives us a better feel for the concerns of the community. " Sounds great for those of us that shop at Ingles and Wal-Mart, now we get to shop along side this group. Makes it sound wonderful for Henderson County, a local connection!
The second part of the story gets interesting, they plan on leasing the building to Ardent Health and Rehabilitation. Chris Sprenger and Mike DeLoach of Ardent , would operate the facility. Turns out they are also owners of Hendersonville Physicians and Associates. The article keeps on going back to the "local connection", and keeping it in the community.
Ardent also operates Beystone Health and Rehabilitation in Fletcher, and Sanford Health and Rehabilitation southwest of Raleigh. Upon further research, it appears they are also owners of Beystone. Chris Sprenger and Mike DeLoach are also managing partners of Beystone, Sanford, and Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. These guys arent happy getting just one piece of the pie, they want the whole thing.
Then the real truth starts coming out further down the page. " Not being bound to a hospital, we're able to run ( the center ) like all the other facilities are run in the nation, " Russell said. Wait a minute Dr. Russell, I thought the whole thing was the " local " connection. Why do you want to run the place like all the other facilities in the Country. In the ads for Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, they say their passion makes the difference. Is that the passion, that all the other facilities in the nation have, or is that the "local" passion?
The board of directors at Pardee, and the Henderson County Board of Commissioners had to sign off on the deal. What a grand show they were all putting on. Obviously the residents of Henderson County were not being told the whole truth. The well being of the residents, and the quality of care were the least important factors in determining the buyer. Money as usual was the root of the evil in this case.
I spoke personally to one of the other bidders, they said that being owned by a hospital would require a definate number of nurses and cna's. Being a private entity would not require any certain number of staff. The hospital would have to put the money back into providing quality care. A private owner just takes the money, and puts it in their pocket. The other bidder I spoke to stated that he felt that Pardee Hospital had already decided who would get the bid before the bids were placed. I'm pretty sure that the County Commissioners and the Hospital Board benefitted in some way.
The point is that Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation is run by a company that intends to take as much profit as possible. The care of the residents is secondary to the profits. The patient will always get the short end of the stick. Shame on Pardee Hospital and the Henderson County Commissioners!
Here is a link to the company that actually took this place over from Pardee. If I was able to get this information, I'm sure the Pardee Hospital Board and the County Commissioners could have found it. The problem is all they saw was the money, the residents of Henderson County got hustled by the Commissioners and Pardee Hospital Board.
http://www.sprengerhealthcare.com/communities/map/
Notice they dont list any properties in North Carolina, but there was an article in the Lorraine County News that says that Sprenger Healthcare was proud to announce the aquisition of two new properties, Hendersonville Health and rehabilitation, and Stonecreek Health and Rehabilitation in Asheville. So much for the local connection, do they have Ingles in Ohio?
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