St. Croix’s Herbert Grigg Home For the Aged wants to change its name to the Herbert Grigg Skilled Nursing Facility and a bill to that end was before the Senate Committee on Health, Hospitals and Human Services Wednesday, but was held in committee.
Sen. Nereida "Nellie" Rivera-O’Reilly introduced the bill, saying the facility’s management and the Department of Human Services, which runs the facility, asked for the change. Human Services Director Christopher Finch said the name change will send a message both to potential patients and to the federal government about what sorts of services are offered and what sort of facility it really is.
"A skilled nursing facility ¬ or SNF – is a state-defined term usually reserved for the most intensive non-hospital care facilities," Finch said. "It is often, but not always used in conjunction with facilities that have been certified to receive Medicare and Medicaid payments. Herbert Grigg Home is not Medicare/Medicaid certified at present but it is working towards that goal and expects to reach it within a year or shortly longer."
Vera Falu, residential director of the facility, said it was a "baby step" that would help clarify the types of services offered and potentially help it qualify for federal funding reserved for SNFs.
Deborah Richardson-Peter, administrator for health planning at the Health Department, testified the law requires the facility to apply for and receive a certificate of need before changing the types of services offered, and some of the services already being offered may require one too.
Finch said the need for the services and the lack of any other options for its patients were the driving force behind the added services, so he hoped a certificate could be processed quickly and without much controversy.
With a rapidly aging population and a lack of resources, the territory’s hospitals and its residential assisted living facilities were being stretched beyond their normal duties. People with no place else to go end up going to the hospital or remaining in assisted living when they really need more care. Long-term care beds and extensive nursing support are sorely needed, he said.
The 2008 census estimate has about 14,000 Virgin Islanders older than age 65, versus 9,000 in 2000 – a-54 percent increase, Finch said. The over-85 population is about 1,000; a 36-percent increase in eight years. According to Finch, the rough formula for estimating the number of long-term care beds needed is four to nine percent of the population older than 65, with nine percent for rural areas where there are no other options. Under that formula, the Virgin Islands needs between 560 and 1,260 beds. Currently there are only 133 beds. On St. Croix, the Grigg Home has 48 beds. On St. Thomas, Queen Louise Home has 25 beds and the private Seaview facility has 40 beds. Small private board and care homes make up the remaining 20 beds.
"That’s slightly less than a quarter of the lowest estimate of our needs," Finch said.
Once the Frederiksted Health Center moves out of the Grigg Home and funding is secured, it will be able to expand to 80 beds, he said, but no other increase is on the short-term horizon.
The committee voted 5-0 to hold the bill until the necessary certificate was procured. Voting yea were Richards, Sens. Craig Barshinger, Neville James, Shawn-Michael Malone and Patrick Sprauve. Absent were Sens. Louis Patrick Hill and Alvin Williams. O’Reilly attended the meeting but is not a member of the committee.
