The sudden closure of Iola Nursing and Rehabilitation Center leaves around 60 employees scrambling to find jobs elsewhere, and 35 residents whose futures were thrown to the wind.
The company notified its staff and occupants Tuesday that the nursing home and assisted living facility was to close by the end of the week.
“The owner of the building is a bank, and they decided to close the building, because there’s just not enough growth in the community,” Mike Levitt, with the Kansas City-based Walnut Creek Management, told the Register Thursday.
As of Friday, only two residents remained, meaning the facility cannot lock its doors for good until those residents find new living quarters.
“Some are going to Moran, some to Windsor Place and Greystone (in Iola), others are going to Caney and Eureka,” said Nicole Almond, a certified nurse’s aide whose last day was Thursday. “They’re being spread out all over the place.”
DURING the noon hour Thursday, Evelyn Jones, 65, sat in her wheelchair in front of the Iola Nursing Center. Her dresser and matching nightstand rested on the sidewalk beside her. Her son loaded piles of hangered clothes into the cab of his pickup.
“Day before yesterday, that was all the notice we got,” said Jones. “One of the workers, a CNA, she said ‘Well, did they talk to you yet?’ She says, ‘We’re closed and they want everyone out by the end of the week.’”
The scene inside: Staff moved hurriedly from room to room. One employee inched down the hallway removing posters and framed items from the walls. The building’s administrator sat in her office, on the phone, one hand pressed against her forehead. Randy Latta, INC’s longtime bookkeeper, burst through pair of swinging doors trailed by two other staff members. At the other end of the hallway, in the cafeteria, his mother, Virginia Latta, sat at the end of a long table with her two friends, Arley Womack and Doris Roe.
All three women have found placement elsewhere, but none is eager to go.
“Well, I liked it here,” said the 93-year-old Roe. “It was always good to me. Never had any problems at all. When I came here this time, I didn’t have any other place to go. I sold my home and this was my last resort. I didn’t even know it was my last resort but it was. They’ve been really good to me. This place has been a lifesaver.”
Latta and Roe, friends for decades before they moved into the nursing home and across-the-hall neighbors in the three years since they’ve been there, have secured rooms at Greystone.
But it wasn’t easy, given the paltry supply of area housing options for the elderly.
“If you really look around,” reflected David Roe, Doris’ son, “there is just Windsor and Greystone left. Housing for that group is limited. I would hate it if we wouldn’t have been able to keep her close, if we’d had to take her down to Erie or Fredonia.”
Roe worries about those residents, though, who don’t have family nearby.
As the three women were eating, Keith Evans, 92, wearing bright yellow nylon basketball shorts and a cutoff T-shirt, motored up to a nearby table. He ordered bran flakes and a pudding cup, which arrived at his table with a mountain of whipped cream on top. Evans hopes to eventually move to a home in Garnett — where he has a niece — but for the moment that facility is full. In the meantime, he’ll be going to Chanute until the call from Garnett arrives.
