HOLYOKE — The process of transfer of patients from Farren Care Center in Turners Falls to what was once Mount Saint Vincent Care Center here is in its final phase, according to new operator iCare Health Network.
The Connecticut-based for-profit renamed the facility MissionCare and will operate it as a specialized skilled nursing center primarily for patients dual diagnosed with mental illness and a major medical condition.
“There are 94 residents at MissionCare now,” said David Skoczulek, vice president of business development for iCare. “We continue the process of transferring those Farren residents who have expressed a desire to move to the Holyoke location to MissionCare.”
He added, “There are less than 20 residents still living at Farren currently.”
“We plan on admitting through next week,” Skoczulek said. “The physical plant is utilized similarly, and now a dedicated and secured behavioral health unit has been established.”
Skoczulek said he expected a total of some 64 Farren residents to have transferred to Holyoke at the conclusion of the process, and that 45 Mount Saint Vincent patients have remained for the change to MissionCare.
In November, the state gave Trinity Health, owner of Farren, a 122-bed skilled nursing and long-term rehabilitative services facility for people with both medical and psychiatric conditions, the OK to close the facility, but delayed resident transfers to the new year.
The approval came after a series of contentious public hearings that also involved the sale by the Sisters of Providence Ministry Corporation to iCare of Mount Saint Vincent, a 125-bed skilled nursing facility for short-term rehabilitation and long-term care, that Trinity operated at the time.
Critics of Farren’s closure included family members and legal guardians of current residents who argued no other facility was available to care for such dual diagnosed patients and lamented their termination of care by long-time staff impacted by the closure. They also said patient transfers, if made by year’s end as originally requested, would take place during a rise in cases of COVID-19 that has been particularly deadly for residents of long-term facilities.
Skoczulek said iCare has “hired over 20 Farren staff members and expects that number to rise” and has “also have been successful in hiring management and non-management positions from within and outside of Farren.”
He said the chaplain at Farren “was transferred” to the Holyoke facility — both Farren Care and Mount Saint Vincent were founded as Catholic ministries by the Sisters of Providence — and will assist “in providing and bringing in resources including spiritual resources for the Catholic faith, as well as to meet other spiritual needs for other faiths.”
The “Farren program,” Skoczulek said “was mostly transplanted and includes a behavioral health program director, psychiatry trained medical director, experienced nursing staff and social workers.”
“The behavioral unit will be for residents with mental health needs and other co-occurring disorders/illnesses,” Skoczulek said. “The exact configuration will evolve over time as there are still former Mount Saint Vincent residents on the first floor. Any unit that has a significant use for behavioral health will be a secure unit and encompass at least half but likely a whole floor.”
He added, “We have already provided a comprehensive training program specific to the care of residents with a behavioral health diagnosis as part of an education curriculum.”
Other units at MissionCare include a memory care center for dementia patients as well as rehabilitation services and programs, such as cardiac recovery, involving skilled nursing.
Skoczulek said iCare has “not done any substantial renovations to date other than cosmetic repairs and cleaning.”
He added, “Currently the priority is the transfer of Farren residents.”
“Other demand for future services is coming from the same type of population, those with a dual diagnosis of major medical and mental illness where the referral source is looking for a specific and appropriate placement,” Skoczulek said.
“This often means the hospital or community provider have found difficulty in placing in a standard nursing home or site of care.”
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