Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

New owners at Prescott Manor

Prescott Manor Nursing Center, formerly Beverly, is under new management and ownership.

Peggy McLelland, center director, said a group purchased the nursing home on Feb. 1, 2002, and have been renovating the facility since.

According to McLelland, there were some who thought the nursing home was going to close because Beverly was pulling out. Had this been the case, 55-60 people would have lost their jobs.

Instead of the center closing, it was bought by KSJLLC, the initials of the men who made the purchase, and remains open. In fact, McLelland said, all employees, except management, received raises after the sale.

KSJLLC, she said, also owns six other nursing homes.

Since the sale, work has being on going to improve the center. This includes painting all of the rooms, making sure all the plumbing works and having the floors stripped and waxed. The work is being done one room at a time, with as little inconvenience to the residents as possible. The work is also being done by local contractors.

"We're doing the repairs like you'd do an older home," she said. "With the people inside we're taking our time."

The facility, she said, had not been maintained as Beverly knew it wouldn't be keeping the center. Beverly was leasing the building while it owned the home's license, but the new owners are buying the structure.

Though Beverly knew it wasn't going to renew the lease, company officials didn't tell the employees about this decision until December, 2001.

It wasn't much of a secret, though, as McLelland said. Prospective buyers were being shown the building, which was also being surveyed at the time.

The new owners, she said, will take things slow, but do them right.

McLelland was the business office manager for the facility for 15 years while it was owned by Beverly, but obtained her administrator's license and left.

She returned upon learning Beverly was leaving and the center was being sold to a new group. "I was tickled to find a job to come home to."

Some of the employees, she said, have been working there for 20 years, providing stability for the residents.

The new company, she said, started a bonus program for the employees, and is working on getting them insurance.

There are new employees  the director of nursing, Judy Crist, and Dawn Copeland, a registered nurse  both joining the staff from Nashville.

McLelland said there will be two RNs on duty each day during the week, whereas there was one before.

Wing 3 has been reopened as a specialty locked unit. Previously, this wing was the Alzheimer's unit. There is a fenced in yard where patients who may have a tendency to wander can go and be outside.

Overall, the center is licenced for 111 beds, but has 49 in-house residents at this time, with three in the hospital. McLelland said it's normal for nursing homes to have a 50 percent occupancy rate.

The new owners had a dining room built on Wing 3 so residents can eat there, though they are encouraged to take their meals with the others there.

CNA classes will be offered at the center, with three rooms being combined to make the classroom.

"We've been told," McLelland said, "if we build the census, they'll build a new facility. They've built new nursing homes in other places."

A ribbon cutting and open house will be held for the center Wednesday, June 12, from 9:30-11 a.m.