Local man says mother was given little time to vacate nursing home

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A local man is challenging statements made by officials from SLP Operators, LLC, in a Monday Snyder Daily News article.
Mike Swinney, whose mother had been a resident at Snyder Healthcare Center for 15 years, said some of the SLP officials’ comments were untrue.
“Someone from the nursing home called me on July 2 and told me that (Snyder) Healthcare was closing and that we had 24 hours to move my mother to another facility,” Swinney said. “I asked them just how I was going to be able to move her in only one day. We later learned that, by law, you have to have 30 days to move residents out of a nursing home.”
Swinney said his family found a facility in Colorado City that would accept his mother and she was moved there July 4.
In Monday’s article, as well as a public notice published in the July 5 edition, SLP officials said the transition would stretch into the fall.
“We’re not going to rush anybody,” SLP’s general counsel Richard Agnew said on Monday. 
He said at the time he was unsure how many residents would be impacted by the closure.
According to the notice, Snyder Healthcare Center is scheduled to be closed effective Oct. 1, and that no business would be conducted at the facility after Sept. 3.
Fort Worth-based SLP Operators, LLC, owner of Snyder Healthcare Center and Snyder Oaks Care Center announced it was closing Snyder Healthcare and merging operations at the Snyder Oaks facility earlier this month.
According to people familiar with the situation, more than 20 individuals were moved from Snyder Healthcare to Snyder Oaks within the first few days of July, just after the announced merger and closure was made public.
“She (his mother) was the last resident (at Healthcare),” Swinney said. “There wasn’t anybody else living there. All this talk about how (SLP) was going to allow people to take their time finding another nursing home during the transition is just wrong. The transition is already over.”
Danielle Pestrikoff of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission stated in an email that in the case of a voluntary closure, the nursing home facility must send written notice within one week after the date on which the closure decision is made to residents’ relatives or responsible parties stating that the closure will occur no earlier than 60 days after receipt of the notice.
The written notice must include the following: The reason for transfer or discharge, the effective date of transfer or discharge, the location to which the resident is transferred or discharged and a statement that the resident has a right to appeal the action.
If families or residents feel they have been treated unfairly, Pestrikoff stated that they may file a complaint with Complaint and Incident Intake at (800) 458-9858 or with the Long-Term Care Ombudsman at (800) 252-2412. They may also email ltc.ombudsman@hhsc.state.tx.us
A message left for Agnew on Tuesday has not been returned.