Private companies will probably provide some services at Baldomero Lopez soon. Pensions and quality are concerns.
By ALEX LEARY
Published December 2, 2003
LAND O'LAKES - About 80 state employees at Baldomero Lopez Veterans Nursing Home could face the prospect of fending for their jobs in the coming year under a likely partial takeover by private companies.
The move - part of Gov. Jeb Bush's pledge to trim a quarter of the state work force - is still being hashed out, but companies are lined up to provide food service, housekeeping and certified nursing assistants.
"It will probably happen sometime in the future as we fully support the governor's initiative," said Greg Puckett, program director for the state's veterans nursing homes.
"It's a very emotional issue with workers," he said. "I understand that."
So-called outsourcing does not necessarily mean current employees will lose their positions, he said. The state will seek to provide workers first right for job interviews and could provide job training, allowing, say, a housekeeper to move to a nursing assistant position.
Still, Puckett acknowledged that while contractors sometimes pay more, in general they get by with fewer employees and provide less generous benefits than the state.
Current workers, for example, could lose out on a state pension because a person is not vested until six years. Baldomero Lopez Veterans Nursing Home, named after a Medal of Honor recipient, opened in early 1999 and serves about 110 patients.
Puckett did not have figures on how much outsourcing could save at Baldomero Lopez. The state will cut up to 14 jobs in food service, up to 14 in housekeeping and 55 certified nursing assistants from its payrolls. It will be up to the private companies to decide how many employees they will need to do the same job.
Administrators and registered nurses would continue to be employed by the state.
Overall, Puckett said, "We want to ensure we're providing an equal or better quality of service and then secondly reduce the cost to the state."
But some veterans advocates are less optimistic, saying privatization puts an emphasis on profit margins rather than quality.
"No private sector is going to give the respect and care that the veterans get now," said Walter O'Reilly, a Vietnam veteran and New Port Richey resident who once served on the state Veterans Planning Group.
"There is no more dedicated person than a person who works in a VA," O'Reilly said. "They are all there for one purpose."
Officials at Baldomero Lopez declined to comment.
If the plan goes through as expected, food service would be taken over by Morrison Healthcare Food Services, a division of Morrison Management Specialists of Atlanta; housekeeping by Crothall Services Group of Wayne, Pa.; and nursing assistants by PhyAmerica Government Services of Durham, N.C.
Those corporations already handle services for state veterans nursing homes in Pembroke Pines and Springfield; they will also staff one scheduled to open in January in Port Charlotte.
The facilities in Land O'Lakes and Daytona Beach would transition to private from a state employed work force.
- Alex Leary can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6247, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is leary@sptimes.com
