John L. Montgomery Care Center Resident Requests for the Conditions of the Sale of Their Home

By Jennifer Gregory

As we approach the next phase in the process of privatizing of the long embattled Monmouth County Care Centers, the following items were submitted to the Freeholders, on behalf of the residents and family members of John L. Montgomery, to be included in the Request for Proposal and the Conditions of the Sale of their home:

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Monmouth Freeholders Vote To Privatize Nursing Homes

By a vote of 4-1, the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders officially started the process of privatizing the John L. Montgomery and Geraldine L. Thompson Care Centers, the nursing homes that have been run by the county government since the early 1900’s.

Freeholder Director Gary Rich and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso joined Freeholders John Curley and Tom Arnone in voting to move the nursing homes to the private sector.  Curley and Arnone have long advocated the privatization, while Rich and DiMaso have sought additional study of the issue.  Freeholder Lillian Burry voted no on privatization, steadfastly maintaining her position that county government has an obligation to care for its most vulnerable residents.  Burry favored a plan to merge the operations of the two care centers.

Monmouth County property taxpayers have borne deficits of $45 million in the nursing homes since 2007. With cutbacks in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements under ObamaCare, the deficits have grown to almost $7 million per year.

• Tweet

Don’t sell the nursing homes until these questions are answered

By Art Gallagher

This evening at the Monmouth County Agriculture Building, the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders will listen to a report on the state of the county owned care centers/nursing homes. Following that report, the are very likely vote to move forward in the process of selling or privatizing the facilities.

There have been compelling arguments made on both sides of the issue. There has also been emotion driven demagoguery on both sides of the issue. What may have been missing, so far, is a dispassionate analysis. There are those of both sides of the issue who have been fighting for their intended outcome based on ideological, emotional, and political concerns.   Ideology, emotion and politics are all appropriate factors.  However, those drivers should be informed by a dispassionate analysis of all the facts and options. Any official who casts a vote on the future of the care centers based solely on ideology, emotion, politics or personal preference is guilty of malpractice.

I respectively ask all five of my friends on the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders to consider the answers to the following questions before making a final decision on the future of the John L. Montgomery and Geraldine Thompson care centers.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Balancing compassion and fiscal restraint

By Freeholder Lillian G. Burry

In a county as large and diverse as Monmouth County new issues arise for the Freeholders on almost a daily basis.  Fortunately, most also come with a very clear and simple resolution as well and so are dealt with almost as quickly as they come.  Then there are a few issues that are not that simple.  These tend to be ones that place two or more fundamental commitments of government in conflict with one another.  Determining the future of our care centers is just such a complex issue.

Good governments mirror the values of the societies that establish them.  Compassion for the most vulnerable among us is a fundamental value of our society.  From their origins as tuberculosis hospitals through their evolution as nursing homes into more sophisticated care centers our two facilities have met this moral obligation in Monmouth County.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet