HOLLIDAYSBURG – Blair County commissioners Terry Tomassetti and Diane Meling said Tuesday they were disappointed to learn of the state ban on admissions at Valley View Home and the assignment of a temporary manager.

But the sale of the home, the commissioners said, was a good decision for the county and its taxpayers.

The state banned admissions in mid-May and assigned a temporary manager, effective June 1, after finding deficient practices in recent inspection survey reports, state health department Deputy Press Secretary Wesley Culp told the Mirror recently.

As detailed in the April and May survey reports, Valley View deficiencies included many resident care issues, including ones involving the administration of medication as well as safety issues that developed when staff took as much as 45 minutes to respond to residents’ call bells.

Reliant Senior Care Management, which manages Valley View, is working on efforts to address the state’s actions, Chief Executive Officer Nathan Niles said last week in a telephone interview. The Philadelphia-based company took over the home after the county sold the 240-bed facility in May 2013 to a limited liability corporation.

Tomassetti and Meling both voted in favor of selling the home and offered no regrets after Tuesday’s weekly meeting at the courthouse. Commissioner Ted Beam Jr., who voted against the sale, was not at the meeting.

“I’m very disappointed with the way things have turned out … but we needed to sell the home,” Meling said. “It was a drain on the county’s finances.”

Tomassetti said he, too, was disappointed to learn of the state’s issues with the home.

“But the decision to sell was a prudent one for the taxpayers,” Tomassetti said.

Niles said he believes the state’s issue can be addressed through the hiring of more staff and less dependence on independent agencies to fill work shifts.

While Affinity Healthcare of Indiana was able to improve Valley View’s financial operations while managing the home on behalf of the county, Tomassetti said that success came from providing more rehabilitation services, not because of the housing and care of residents. And by doing that, the county put itself in competition with private health care providers, the commissioner said.

The state offered no timetable as to when it will lift the ban or remove the temporary manager.

Both measures are designed to give the home a chance to correct the deficiencies, Culp said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.