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STEVE CORBETT
Sunday, January 20, 2002 Page: 3A
After finishing their BLTs and chicken noodle soup, the eight women who
live at the Personally Yours assisted-care home for the elderly in Nanticoke
settled into their favorite chairs to get ready for the show.
“Matlock” started at 1 o’clock.
Too bad make-believe TV lawyer Ben Matlock isn’t around to help his fans.
The women’s plight suddenly rivals the popular drama that in the 1990-91
season presented an episode called, “Nowhere To Turn.”
But, as slick as he is at ladling out hefty portions of downhome
lawfulness, if Matlock argued their case he’d likely lose.
Everybody from state Commonwealth Court judges to the Secretary of the
Department of Public Welfare agrees with the decision to close Personally
Yours this week.
The women, who range in age from 71 to 95, must move.
The thought of vulnerable people looking for a place to live at a time in
their lives when stability means everything is terrible.
Equally heartless is knowing that the owners could have prevented this from
happening three years ago – but did nothing about it.
Co-owner Marge Bart said she and her partner told officials that only eight
residents would live in the facility when they applied for licensing in 1997.
After receiving approval, the partners housed 11 residents, Bart said
Friday.
“I didn’t think anybody would care,” she said about the three extra
residents.
After visiting more than 20 other personal care homes, they settled on a
former convent in Nanticoke. During their search for the home, Bart said, she
and her partner saw numerous violations that went seemingly unchecked by
authorities.
Action came after several years
Bart acknowledged that the women in her care would not be in this awful
position had she followed the rules.
Instead, she knowingly broke the rules, she said.
In 1998, state officials told the partners seven separate times to comply.
And seven separate times they agreed, according to DPW press secretary Jay
Pagni.
But they ignored the order.
The state then fined the partners five separate times – totaling $20,000.
The partners appealed, paying $2,500 in appeals fees, Pagni said.
During that time the partners still did not remove the three women, Pagni
said.
By then, state officials had enough and refused to renew the home’s
license. The three women had finally relocated and the home remained open
under appeal.
The first appeal went against Personally Yours. Welfare Secretary Feather
Houstoun herself even ruled against the home owners, who lost various other
appeals.
Now, despite talk of a petition drive and a court order, it looks like the
end.
Spokesman Pagni said state officials have been working with the eight women
and their families to make sure they are placed and cared for properly.
Aide Cami Jackson said some residents have already made other plans.
So has she.
“Unemployment, I guess,” said Jackson, 34, of Nanticoke.
The wife and mother of a 15-year-old, a 9-year-old and a 4-year-old said
she recently hurt her back and will appreciate some time to recuperate. Her
husband’s out of work as well, after being laid off from his construction job
for the winter.
“This is the job I’ve been the happiest in,” said the former waitress and
convenience store worker who started work at 16.
Happy loses in this story.
Even Matlock’s sly courtroom tricks wouldn’t help now.
Call Corbett at 829-7215 or e-mail [email protected].