North Jersey Pediatric and Adult Nursing and Wellness Center | |
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Geography | |
Location | 1433 Ringwood Ave, Haskell, New Jersey, United States |
Coordinates | 41°00′51″N 74°17′54″W / 41.014260°N 74.298436°W |
Organization | |
Type | For-profit |
Links | |
Website |
www |
The Phoenix Center for Rehabilitation and Pediatrics is a long-term care center and nursing home in Haskell, New Jersey. [1] [2] It is a for-profit center that provides treatment to children who are medically fragile or are receiving palliative care. As of October 2018, it had 92 pediatric long-term care beds [3] and 135 for elderly residents, [4] also operating as a long-term nursing home and a rehabilitation center. [5] In July 2019, it was sold and renamed the North Jersey Pediatric and Adult Nursing and Wellness Center. [6]
In late 2018, a severe adenovirus outbreak at the facility received international attention. [7] [8] Ultimately, 11 children died [9] and 36 residents and one staff member were diagnosed [10] in "one of the nation's deadliest long-term-care outbreaks." [4]
In 2014 it was purchased by Eugene Ehrenfeld and Daniel Bruckstein [11] of Continuum Healthcare LLC. [12] In December 2018, Eugene Ehrenfeld and David Bruckstein continued to own the facility. [13] Wanaque Center, in July 2019, was renamed the North Jersey Pediatric and Adult Nursing and Wellness Center. [6] It had been sold to new owners and was awaiting approval from the state for the transfer of its license. [14]
The 2018 United States adenovirus outbreak began at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. [2]
The head of the New Jersey Department of Health was notified on October 19, when five children had died. [15]
A hearing was held by the state Senate Health Committee on the Wanaque outbreak [4] on December 3, 2018. Wanaque Center failed to send a representative, [4] saying that it was protecting patient privacy [13] and that the hearing was not the appropriate place to discuss the outbreak. [15] Senator Richard Codey suggested that the Senate subpoena the Wanaque Center owners to attend if they refused in the future. [13] At the hearing, the NJ health department head announced that state health policy had been changed as a result of the outbreak, requiring the health commissioner to be notified immediately when outbreaks result in the deaths of children. [15]
On March 2, 2019, Wanaque Center was fined $600,000 by the federal government based on state and federal inspections. [16] Wanaque Center attorneys said they would contest the findings. [17] On March 29, 2019, it was reported that the center could resume admitting pediatric ventilator patients [18] after the state ban lifted. [19] At the time, Senator Codey was calling for a criminal probe into the center, arguing the facility should not be operating. [18]
In spring 2019, another respiratory virus outbreak, hMPV, infected three staff members and three patients at Wanaque. Wanaque followed new protocols, with no deaths. [20]
In direct response to the Wanaque outbreak, on June 6, 2019, a New Jersey health department report called for a new law requiring long-term care facilities to develop disease outbreak plans. [10] [21] [22] [23] A new bill based on the report was signed by the governor in August 2019, [14] after passing both houses of state legislature late June 2019. [6] At the time the bill was signed, Wanague remained under state and federal investigation for how it handled the outbreak. [24]
By February 28, 2019, the center still had 92 beds for children and 135 for elderly residents. [4] In June 2019, it was one of 11 New Jersey nursing homes flagged by federal inspectors for persistently unsafe conditions by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. [25]