BRISTOL, Conn. — Dozens of Connecticut healthcare workers are out of a job and hundreds of seniors here in the state are now looking for another home after two more nursing homes, both in Bristol, have informed the state they intend to shut down.
If the state approves the closure, 40% of the nursing home beds in Bristol would be eliminated. Sheriden Woods and Countryside Manor are both run by Athena Healthcare, which has told the state it can’t continue operating. It comes just 30 days after the closure of Abbott Terrace, an Athena run facility in Waterbury.
From the outside it’s business as usual. A sign posted outside of Countryside Acres says Athena is hiring for healthcare workers, yet they just proposed laying off dozens of them.
Meanwhile inside the facilities, “People are upset,” said William Levesque.
Emotions are stirring.
“It’s a rough day,” said Angela Sarti, a nurse.
There’s anger.
“Why doesn’t anybody care about our seniors?” asked Levesque.
There’s sadness.
“They’re crying, they’re upset,” said Robin Monahan.
There’s fear.
“The holidays are coming and it’s scary because we all have families. It’s the unknown,” said Sarti.
Athena Healthcare informed the state, staff and residents they intend to close the Countryside Manor and Sheriden Woods nursing homes, both in Bristol.
"There won’t be any beds. People are going to have to keep their parents in their own homes or have them live with them,” said Levesque, whose mother is in rehab at Sheriden Woods.
The announcement comes just 30 days after the feds essentially forced the closure of Athena’s Abbott Terrace facility in Waterbury for failure to meet minimum health and safety standards.
Many of the staff and elderly residents there were transferred to Bristol. Now it’s DeJaVu.
“The wound has not healed. Literally we just bandaged it up. We are trying to carry on and here they go with the salt,” described Sanderia Boon, a nurse at Sheriden Woods.
In a statement, Athena told FOX61, “Environmental factors – staffing challenges, facility maintenance needs, and rising operational costs – made it impossible to continue operating both facilities…”
Athena is a company in financial turmoil. They owe back taxes in several communities and recently sold five skilled nursing facilities.
The company is run by Larry Santilli.
RELATED: Nursing home residents, staff call for Abbott Terrace to stay open and for company to manage better
“This man, Larry, he doesn’t come to any of these meetings and hasn’t said sorry to the Athena community, that he faces some serious charges because this is a crime,” explained Brittney Collazo, a CNA at Sheriden Woods. “I saw a picture of Larry on his yacht as Abbot was closing down, and I’m here crying every day because me and my coworkers and the residents are being separated, and you are on a yacht and life is one big vacation for you.”
Athena’s statement concluded by saying it is “evaluating options to support the continued operations” of its six remaining Connecticut nursing homes.
“I think we all saw the writing on the wall, we just didn’t want to believe it,” remarked Sarti.
“Us girls have worked our butts off through COVID when no one else was working or wanted to come and work. We were here and now it feels like a slap in the face like nobody cares,” said CNA Robin Monahan.
The Department of Health and Department of Social Services will now engage in a closure process that includes a 10-day cooling off period, followed by a public hearing. After that, they’ll have up to 180 days to make a decision on the closures.
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Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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