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St. John’s to help relocate 45 patients, find 120 jobs

Center that has struggled financially for past five years is closing.

CMHP will reveal significant news Tuesday about Mercy St. John nursing home. Employees told us off the record Monday it would close. St. John's operation is the last operation still at the old Mercy Medical Center campus. Landlocked Wittenberg has shown interest in the Mercy complex.

Barbara J. Perenic/Staff Photo CMHP will reveal significant news Tuesday about Mercy St. John nursing home. Employees told us off the record Monday it would close. St. John's operation is the last operation still at the old Mercy Medical Center campus. Landlocked Wittenberg has shown interest in the Mercy complex.

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By Matt Sanctis, Staff Writer Updated 11:04 PM Tuesday, February 21, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — About 45 residents of Mercy St. John’s Center will need to find long-term care and 120 employees will need to find jobs after the center’s closing was announced Tuesday.

The center has struggled financially for the past five years. It offers specialized programs for long-term care needs, including adult day care services, senior health and housing services, and skilled nursing care.

St. John’s is on the grounds of the former Mercy Medical Center complex along North Fountain Boulevard.

Dave Lamb, a spokesman for Community Mercy Health Partners, said St. John’s residents will be relocated over the next 90 days into an appropriate senior living community.

Residents and their families can complete the move on their own if they wish and will be offered assistance.

Lamb said CMHP will also work with the center’s 120 employees to seek similar positions within the company over the next three months.

“We’re going to work closely with Mercy St. John’s employees to find jobs available within the system,” Lamb said.

If jobs are not available, the company will try to help them find work elsewhere, he said.

Families of some of the center’s patients said the decision will potentially have a significant impact on their lives.

Karen Highman said her 92-year-old mother Helen has used the facility’s Petticrew Center for the last three years. The Petticrew Center provides services like adult day care and therapy to patients with dementia due to Alzheimer’s Disease, along with other disorders.

She said the Petticrew Center has a relatively small number of patients, but it has been a lifeline for her family. She said she has been looking for another suitable service for her mother for years, but so far has not been able to find one.

“A lot of us work, and this is an important lifeline for people who are trying to take care of people with Alzheimers,” Highman said.

She said she hopes CMHP continues to help her find a center to help care for her mother during the day. She has tried to keep her mother out of a nursing home, but said that will be difficult without adult day care.

Lamb said most families who use the center have been cooperative and receptive to the decision.

By closing the facility, Lamb said CMHP will also be in a better position to reinvest in other facilities, including Oakwood Village in Springfield, the Mercy McAuley Center in Urbana and the Mercy Siena Retirement Community in Dayton.

Lamb said there are several other senior living options locally. He said the Ohio Department of Health has described Clark County as “overbedded” for long-term care beds.

Wittenberg University has expressed interest in the Mercy campus on North Fountain Avenue. Lamb said talks are continuing with Wittenberg but said there are no details available about the discussions.

“We are having ongoing discussions for the sale of part or all of the campus,” Lamb said.

Other transition plans for the Fountain campus are underway, Lamb said. Mental Health Services, which was located in a separate facility on the campus, is building a facility adjacent to the new hospital. The Springfield Regional Imaging Center, which still operates toward the rear of the campus, will eventually move into a medical office building when it is built on the new hospital campus. Bright Beginnings Child Care and the MercyCrest Medical Office Building continue to operate on the Fountain campus.

Springfield Regional Medical Center opened in downtown Springfield in November.

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