SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Rest Haven has been through many changes in its long history, but for the first time, it will no longer be owned by Schuylkill County.
Earlier this month, the Schuylkill County commissioners agreed to sell the nursing facility to Nationwide Health Care Services, Brick, New Jersey, for $12.25 million. The sale is expected to be finalized in May.
“We are all very excited about our new owners,” Lisa Brinich, marketing director at Rest Haven, said Thursday. “I think we will be in good hands. I really have a good feeling about it.”
“It’s great for Rest Haven and a new beginning,” she said. “Hopefully our whole family here can stay together.”
Nationwide owns two skilled-nursing facilities in Delaware and four in Pennsylvania, including Ridgeview Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center, Shenandoah. As part of the agreement, all of the current employees at Rest Haven will be offered jobs.
“I think we will still be allowed to keep our uniqueness and our flavor down here, which makes us different than other facilities,” Antoinette “Tony” Huntzinger, director of nursing, said.
The 142-bed skilled nursing home is located just behind Penn State Schuylkill at 401 University Drive, Schuylkill Haven. The facility is licensed by the state Department of Health and has provided a wide range of health care services, including rehabilitation, nursing and medical services, Alzheimer’s care, respite care and other accommodations, activities and personalized care. All beds are Medicare and Medicaid program certified.
Looking back
The history of Rest Haven goes back nearly as far as the founding of Schuylkill County in 1811.
When the county was designated as a poor district in 1831, law required construction of an almshouse, also known as a poor house, to provide charitable housing and employment for people who could no longer work and pay rent.
According to information from the 1911 Centennial History of Schuylkill County on www.schuylkillhavenhistory.com, the county commissioners bought 236 acres of land for $6,000 in North Manheim Township, just north of Schuylkill Haven. Later additions brought the final total of the county-owned ground to 283 acres.
The first building on the property was constructed in 1833. It was a three-story, brick building and was able to accommodate about 150 people, which also included the insane and the homeless.
According to the “Joseph H. Zerbey History of Pottsville and Schuylkill County,” another three-story brick building was constructed in 1840, followed by a two-story building for a hospital in 1842, which was later torn down in 1923.
According to a story in the Miners Journal on Sept. 5, 1857, found at www.schuylkillhavenhistory.com, there was a monthly average of 262 residents at the almshouse that year.
A three-story building was erected in 1859 to care for the elderly. A building for the insane was built in 1869 and a two-story brick building was erected for a bakery and laundry in 1872, according to the Zerbey History.
In 1911, construction started on a new insane asylum on the hill behind the original almshouse. Although it would later be known as the 1912 Building, the Schuylkill County Hospital for the Insane was actually completed and dedicated in 1913. The total cost of the building was about $571,000 and it was large enough to house 600 residents.
According to the Zerbey History, patients were also brought from various state institutions to be cared for at the facility. A hospital building was added in 1897.
According to the Penn State Schuylkill website, the county discontinued farming operations at the site in 1961 and consolidated its remaining patients into one nursing home building on the property. The county then sold a 42-acre parcel of the land to the university for $1. The purchase included six buildings and a large barn.
The only structures acquired in the purchase that were not demolished were the 1897 hospital building, another building constructed in 1913 and a storage building/slaughterhouse built in 1928. Those three buildings were renovated and became the Classroom Building, the Administration Building and the Maintenance Building, respectively.
The current 142-bed Rest Haven facility was built next to the 1912 Building in 1969. The two facilities operated along side each other until the state Department of Health forced the county to close the 1912 Building in 1994 due to its deteriorating condition, according to a 1995 article in the Allentown Morning Call. At that time, the 1912 Building had 120 beds. Rest Haven had a total of 242 residents between both buildings.
No one knew the 1912 Building better than Elaine Schaeffer, who retired as administrator of Rest Haven in 2011. She served in that position for 17 years, but spent 38 years in different roles at Rest Haven, including director of nursing. She is not related to Jill Schaeffer, the current administrator at Rest Haven.
“The residents that were in that building loved it,” Schaeffer said.
She said the rooms were like dormitories and did not have much privacy.
“They would look across the room and wave to their neighbors, have conversations with them,” Schaeffer said. “They would see everything that was going on. Back then, it was that camaraderie that they really enjoyed. From a privacy aspect, it was a nightmare, but back then people enjoyed it.”
When the 1912 Building was closing, residents were not forced out. Rest Haven had stopped taking new patients and was able to find new housing for others or send them home.
“No one was actually discharged because we were downsizing,” Schaeffer said. “It was a volunteer effort on their part. It took approximately about 18 months to two years to accomplish.”
By 1996, the 1912 Building was empty and about 100 employees were laid off. The 120 licensed beds at the facility were used to start Seton Manor in Orwigsburg.
The 1912 Building was eventually sold to Penn State Schuylkill in 2008 along with 33 acres and a second building that was formerly used by the County Child Development as an administrative office. It was demolished in 2010 after a fire heavily damaged the abandoned structure in the summer of 2009.
Schaeffer remembered getting the phone call over the weekend about the fire.
“It was just so frightening to come up here and see a three-alarm fire,” she said. “To come up here and not really know where the fire was located, it was frightening.”
The cause was never determined, according to The Republican-Herald archives.
Penn State Schuylkill remodeled the other building from the purchase and named it the Kiefer-Jones Building in 2012 in honor of Allen Kiefer and Joseph Jones, both of whom have been involved with the Schuylkill Campus Advisory Board for more than 40 years. It currently houses the offices of chancellor, development and alumni relations, and continuing education, according to the Penn State Schuylkill website.
Moving on
When the county commissioners made it known in August that Rest Haven was on the market, it did not surprise some of the long-time staff at the facility. Due to increasing costs and flat medical reimbursement rates, the nursing home became increasingly dependant on the county’s general fund over the last several years. Last year, the commissioners allocated $2 million to Rest Haven.
“You don’t know all the companies that are out there, so that part was scary,” Brinich said. “But once they announced it, I think we were all relieved and excited to move forward and continue making this the best place we can be.”
As a county-owned home, Rest Haven was reimbursed less than private facilities providing the same services. Rest Haven also admitted more patients relying on medical assistance. Brinich said that has been a trend for at least the last 10 years, along with additional services being provided keep patients in their homes. Schaeffer also said it became difficult to keep up with changing regulations.
“All of that does affect your bottom line,” Schaeffer said.
Huntzinger said private companies have more tools at their disposal, such as attorneys and other experts in the nursing field.
“When you are with the county, you are kind of on your own,” she said. “There is no one from the county that can help you run a nursing home.”
Brinich also said they needed county approval for everything from salaries to supply purchases.
“These companies also have larger budgets for marketing,” Huntzinger said.
“We are spending taxpayers dollars, so you have to be very prudent in how you spend things,” Brinich said.
Despite a limited budget, Rest Haven has received many awards and recognitions.
The facility was included in an article in the September 2006 issue of Consumer Reports and placed on the “Nursing Homes to Consider in Pennsylvania” list. It also received the Pennsylvania County Association of Homes Nursing Home of the Year in 1998, 1999 and 2000. The Department of Health issued the Top Ten Best Business Practice award to Rest Haven in 2002.
Even more recently, the facility was recognized on the 2014 U.S. News & World Report list of best nursing homes in Pennsylvania.
Schaeffer said she credited the staff for that success.
“I think it’s the dedicated staff,” Schaeffer said. “I think that’s really important. I know for me it was. I think it was a very caring staff.”
“They take pride in their work and because of that, they take excellent care,” Huntzinger said.
Huntzinger said both the residents and staff enjoy being with each other and have fun.
“The residents are happier because of that,” she said.
“We are like one big family,” Brinich said.
That relationship was demonstrated Thursday as Schaeffer returned to the hallways for the first time in years and was greeted and hugged by patients like an old friend. Schaeffer said she will always remember one Halloween when one of the residents put on a nurse’s uniform and a sweater, like she always wore, with a name tag that said “Elaine Schaeffer.”
“She looked like me, she had the same colored glasses I did and she said ‘I’m Mrs. Schaeffer, how are you?’ ” Schaeffer said. “I just enjoyed it so much. Just those kinds of things, it was a regular work day.”
Huntzinger said she does not expect those little things that made Rest Haven different to change under new ownership.
“That makes it unique and special,” she said. “I think they will just improve upon what we have.”