Home changes hands Friday

EBENSBURG - It's been known as an almshouse, a poorhouse - and once was home to a sprawling farm where inmates sowed crops to earn their keep.

But the one constant in Laurel Crest Rehabilitation & Special Care Center's more than 150 years - county ownership - will be no more Friday, when the Cambria County commissioners turn over the county home to a private company.

After decades of financial ups and downs, renovations and downsizings, the county is set to complete a $14.25 million sale.

The commissioners said it ends a major chapter in the county's history so that the nursing home will survive for future generations of local residents. They moved to sell the home this summer after three straight years of major losses - possibly as much as $12 million since 2007.

"We know that it's hard to accept change," President Commissioner P.J. Stevens said this summer when the deal was announced. "But in this case, change will ensure this important community asset will be available to those who need it long in the future."

The county's original home for the needy opened Nov 23, 1857, as a three-story brick home for "paupers" - the county's abandoned and penniless, according to a county-compiled history of the facility.

By 1905, it became the Cambria County Almshouse, where as many as 135 residents "representing all conditions of life" - and many "weak-minded" - were cared for, particularly during winter months.

The site was also home to two adjoined farms, totaling 260 acres, where those who were able would work daily.

In 1911, new wings were added.

In 1954, a 400-bed addition was built to address overcrowding at "the County Home," records state. A staff of 82 oversaw a home of up to 580 residents at the time - a $2.75 per resident, per day task on average, the Nanty Glo Journal reported at the time.

By 1977, new renovations were needed, with a new addition making the T-shaped, newly-dubbed Laurel Crest Manor much of what it is today, a long-term nursing care center.

At its height, Laurel Crest provided space for as many as 704 residents, records state.

During the past 20 years, as the home's census spiked and dropped, so did the home's revenue.

Talk of selling the facility became common as other county homes across the state were privatized. In Cambria, the home was downsized to 370 residents by 2004.

The first downsizing came as county officials doubled back on plans to sell the facility to the Conemaugh Health System in 2003 for $6.3 million.

While the home generated millions in profits over several ensuing years, a census drop, deficiencies and admissions freezes that stemmed from state inspections drained leftover profits in 2006.

In 2007 and 2008, the home lost $8 million combined, prompting a slew of layoffs and cost-cutting efforts to stop the losses. The county budgeted the 370-bed home for 260 residents but it never hit what the commissioners believed would be easily met goals.

With the census hovering around 220 residents throughout the year, the home lost nearly $2 million through the first half of 2009, prompting the board to seek offers for the home.

The top bidder - Grane Healthcare, a former Laurel Crest manager - topped nearly a dozen bidders with a $14.25 million offer.

The move will turn over Laurel Crest, its 370 beds and 14 surrounding acres to Grane, a Pittsburgh-based operator that runs about a dozen other homes, including Altoona Center for Nursing Care and the adjacent Amber Terrace assisted living center in downtown Altoona.

Mirror Staff Writer David Hurst is at 946-7457.