Years of shocking news from a New Jersey nursing home that included residents’ bodies stored in on-site morgues and disturbing allegations of resident abuse have culminated in the facility’s imminent closure.
Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center in Andover will cease operations on Monday, a week before its federal funding was to be terminated over allegations of neglectful care, according to published reports.
The facility has been mired in controversy for several years. After police discovered 17 deceased residents in a makeshift morgue at the building at the height of the pandemic, Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center changed to its current name. Residents’ families had accused the providers of acting negligently in their handling of the pandemic and causing patients’ COVID-19 deaths.
CMS recently fined Woodland more than $220,000 for major infection control violations related to an Easter weekend incident.
Before a state takeover, the facility was operated by Alliance Healthcare Holdings of Lakewood under CEO Chaim “Mutty” Scheinbaum and Louis Schwartz. Schwartz’s father, Joseph Schwartz, pleaded not guilty in February to a multi-million dollar federal tax fraud scheme in connection with Skyline Healthcare, a failed nationwide home chain that had been based in New Jersey.
Other troubling issues with the beleaguered New Jersey facility included state inspector accusations that the facility was operating with just 23 certified nursing assistants despite state regulations requiring 58, staff failures to perform CPR or call 911 for two unresponsive residents who later died, and failure to give monoclonal antibodies to a COVID-positive resident (who later died) after a doctor ordered they receive immediate treatment.
The center’s 250 employees have been notified of the impending closure. Only 15 residents — nearly all reportedly New York State Medicaid recipients — remained at press time in the sprawling community where more than 500 residents once called home.
