After closing down Portage Manor last year, St. Joseph County commissioners now are selling the Healthwin nursing home property. But they say the nonprofit operating it plans to keep it open.
Healthwin was founded in 1908 as a hospital for people with tuberculosis. It was initially built in South Bend where Potawatomi Park now is. Six year later, in 1914, the county took it over and moved it to its present site on Darden Road in Clay Township.
Healthwin stopped specializing in the treatment of tuberculosis in 1962, and it’s been a licensed nursing home since 1973. Under a 2012 agreement, the nonprofit St. Clair Darden Health System Inc. operates Healthwin while the county has maintained ownership of the property.
That agreement allows St. Clair Darden the opportunity, every five years, to buy the property from the county for about $1.6 million. County Commissioners President Carl Baxmeyer says St. Clair Darden recently approached him and said they want to exercise that option.
"We talked to our legal counsel and everyone is in agreement that they have the right to do this," Baxmeyer said.
When asked why Healthwin wants to own the property, Baxmeyer deferred to Healthwin’s chief financial officer, Steve Gazdick. Gazdick did not return WVPE’s interview requests on Tuesday or Wednesday.
According to its most recent federal inspection on October 4, Healthwin was licensed for 145 beds and had 112 skilled nursing patients. Propublica’s nursing home inspections database says Healthwin’s nurse-to-patient ratios and nurse turnover rates are better than state averages.
"I think it's a good thing, as long as the services that Healthwin provides are continued, and that is their intention, to ensure that those services are provided," Baxmeyer said. "In my opinion they've done a great job of maintaining and living up to the terms of the agreement. There's really nothing there to argue about."
