Union, elected officials, faith leaders demand accountability in abrupt closure of Northview Village Nursing Home

Rally in support of displaced workers and residents

By TIM ROWDEN
Editor-in-Chief

St. Louis — Workers, unions and political leaders rallied outside the shuttered Northview Village Nursing Home at 2415 Kingshighway Blvd. last week calling for accountability after the facility was abruptly closed Dec. 15, sending 175 residents to other care centers across the region and leaving 100 SEIU Healthcare Missouri Kansas workers unemployed ,without notice and without their paychecks, less than two weeks before Christmas.

The residents were shuttled off through the night with little more than the clothes on their backs, some arriving at new care centers without paperwork documenting their medical histories or medication needs. Days later, former staffers and senior advocates said some family members were still trying to find their loved ones and one former resident was found standing in the street on Kingshighway Boulevard.

“This is a crime,” said Lenny Jones, state director and vice president of SEIU Healthcare Missouri Kansas, which represents the workers at Northview Village. “There has to be accountability when a crime like this is committed. Workers are owed what they’re owed – their wages, their PTO (paid time off) accruals, severance, vacation time. They need assistance in finding other jobs in the other homes that he owns, where they keep wages and seniority when they get transferred over there.”

LOCAL, NATIONAL DISGRACE
Northview Village’s owner, Mahklouf “Mark” Suissa, of Chicago, owns two other nursing homes in Missouri, Grand Manor in Grand Center and Cori Manor in Fenton through his business, Healthcare Accounting Services LLC. It also owns two Edwardsville nursing homes: University Care Center and Edwardsville Care Center, and Elmwood Nursing and Rehabilitation in Maryville, and another home in suburban Chicago.

Jones says what happened at Northview Village should be a call for change.

“This owner completely failed them. And, frankly, the state of Missouri has failed these workers and these residents. This is not  just a local disgrace; this is a national disgrace. National, state and local officials must investigate and hold these owners accountable. And they need to make sure this never happens again.”

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen has established a special investigative committee that has been working with workers and community leaders on how to address issues and problems in nursing homes in the city of St. Louis. It’s report on the broader problem is expected soon.

‘MAD AS HELL’
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said she was appalled by what happened at Northview Village.

“Are you angry? Because I’m mad as hell,” Jones said at the rally.

“Shame on this owner for treating the people who lived in this facility like pawns who can just be moved at a moment’s notice. Shame on this owner for not paying the employees what they deserve and just shutting down this facility in the dead of night. The way he treated these employees, the way he treated the people who reside in these facilities shows how he really feels about us. He needs to be held accountable.”

St. Louis Alderwoman Sharon Tyus called for aldermanic hearings and said she has spoken to the circuit attorney about the possibility of an investigation.

State Senator Karla May (D-St. Louis) said she had reached out to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to try and make sure that employees are paid and that residents’ rights are protected.

“We cannot put corporate greed over people,” May said.

‘NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS’
Marjorie Moore, executive director of VOYCE, the St. Louis agency that serves as an ombudsman for long-term care residents and their families, said her agency was still trying to connect some displaced residents with their relatives.

“We’ve seen facilities close before. It’s been awful every time,” Moore said. “ But I have never seen anything like this. This is unacceptable. It’s not how you treat people. It’s not how you treat staff, and it’s not how you treat residents who live in this building.”

Northview Village has been fined 12 times for federal violations since March 2021, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Fines totaled over $140,000 and ranged from $2,200 to more than $45,000. The federal agency gave Northview a one-star rating out of a possible five, but didn’t spell out reasons for the fines.

Many of the nursing home’s residents are on Medicaid, and some have behavioral problems. Moore said that despite its troubled past, the nursing home served as a “safety net” for poor and hard-to-place residents in St. Louis.

APPALLED BY THE INHUMANITY
Heidi Haywood, a certified medical technician at Northview Village, said residents were distraught as the center was closing.

So, too, were workers, some of whom have spent decades there, who were told shortly before buses arrived to start picking up residents that they were out of a job and wouldn’t be getting paid.

“I’ve been in the healthcare field since 2007 and I have never been through anything like this,” Haywood said. “I had residents crying. We were comforting them. They’re confused. They’re sad. We saw psych patients on Kingshighway. I am so appalled at how this whole event took place with moving these human beings, these lives up and out of this residence. I’m so appalled by the inhumanity that that man showed these human beings.”

Haywood is worried about how she will pay her bills.

“I’ve got six kids to provide for, three grandkids to look out for. If I don’t have my money coming in, where are me and my kids going to lay our heads. The last thing I want is to be homeless or not be able to pay for our lights and gas.”