Prospect Park Residence Closing
Prospect Park Residence
(Photo credit: Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times)
September 19, 2015. A previous news item mentioned our steadily diminishing nursing home capacity. Some nursing homes have been shut down to make way for more profitable luxury condos. This trend extends beyond nursing homes; other types of adult residences are also affected. One particularly troublesome situation is the Prospect Park Residence, an adult home and site of the former Madonna Nursing Home.
Nursing homes wishing to close have strict regulations governing that process. Regulations for adult homes are not nearly as extensive. There are no federal regulations for adult homes. The only regulation is by state, and these are considerably weaker than nursing home regulations. Nevertheless, owners of adult homes cannot simply do whatever they wish.
The Prospect Park Residence near Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn NY once had nearly 140 residents. Today it has eight. The owner of the facility received a multimillion dollar bid to turn the property into luxury condos. So he told all the residents they had to leave. Even with inadequate discharge planning most of them did leave, apparently out of fear of what would happen if they stayed. For those who remained, staff and services were cut back drastically. Conditions have been close to unlivable. Many of those who left had to move to locations much farther away, making it more difficult for their families to visit them. Some have had to resort to nursing homes, which is not where they really belong and where their freedom is greatly curtailed.
The few remaining residents are bracing themselves for a fight. With the help of the Legal Aid Society and MFY Legal Servics they are suing both the operator and the Department of Health, the latter for automatically approving the closure plan without proper oversight.
In addition several families have initiated wrongful-death lawsuits against the facility, alleging that substandard conditions at the residence were to blame for the harm that their loved ones suffered.
Residential space for impaired adults is shrinking, while the population is aging. We are headed for a crisis, especially with baby boomers soon to reach this stage in their lives, unless we pay better attention and devote more resources to home care services.
The references below provide all the details about the Prospect Park Residence.
Sources
Carrega-Woodby, Christina. “Families with Wrongful Death Suits Against Brooklyn Nursing Home Try to Stop Owner’s Profit Plans.” The New York Daily News, September 17, 2015. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/families-stop-brooklyn-nursing-home-owner-plans-article-1.2363791.
Yee, Vivian. “Residents Sue to Halt Closing of Brooklyn Assisted-Living Home.” The New York Times, May 2, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/03/nyregion/residents-sue-brooklyn-assisted-living-home-seeking-to-halt-its-closing.html.
———. “At Assisted-Living Home Set to Close, Holdouts Dig In as Services Dry Up.” The New York Times, November 28, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/29/nyregion/at-assisted-living-home-prospect-park-residence-set-to-close-holdouts-dig-in-as-services-dry-up.html?_r=1.