Sudden Closure Of Princeton Care Center Prompts Emergency Relocation Of Residents

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton Care Center, located at 728 Bunn Drive, closed suddenly on Friday, Sept. 1, leaving many families scrambling to make arrangements to relocate the residents.

According to officials from the state Department of Health, the facility shut down due to financial issues.

Scenes were chaotic at the facility on Friday morning, as residents and families were given only a few hours of notice, according to readers who emailed Patch.

With the news coming on the eve of the long weekend holiday, families arrived at the facility to help residents with relocation. Most residents were sent to facilities in Mercer and Middlesex Counties.

According to officials, the DOH was made aware that Princeton Care Center was experiencing financial difficulties and that they were in the process of negotiating terms of a sale to a long-term care system in the State.

“Throughout August, the Department continuously deployed Survey staff and a Mission Critical team to Princeton Care Center to ensure that the nursing home residents were safe and provided with appropriate care during sale negotiations,” said Nancy Kearney, Deputy Director Office of Communications, DOH.

Kearney said a letter of intent had been signed in August, and the purchasing system was already working with the facility closely.

“The agreement was abruptly terminated on Thursday, triggering this emergency situation as the facility was unable to pay its staff, despite repeated assurances to the Department that payroll would be made, and could no longer provide care to its residents. Because of this, the facility initiated its emergency evacuation plan,” Kearney said.

Local officials have criticized the DOH for failing to inform families beforehand and for not putting a relocation plan in place ahead of time.

Princeton Mayor Mark Freda told Patch that local officials were informed in August about the troubles facing the care facility.

“We had pushed aggressively and significantly for the State Department of Health, and the owner of the facility, to let the residents and their families know what was going on, because the state has been aware of this and told us on Aug. 4,” Freda said.

“The state had been watching that care center for months. They knew of the financial problems they were having, yet failed to inform residents ahead of time."

According to state officials, an emergency evacuation plan is required for all long-term care facilities in New Jersey. When this plan is initiated, the main goal is to relocate residents to temporary facilities to ensure continuity of care.

“When the facility initiated its evacuation plan, the Department immediately sent Survey and Mission Critical staff to Princeton Care Center and remained onsite during the residents’ transfers until the last resident left the building to ensure their health and well-being,” Kearney said.

But Freda said this was not enough. “We had pushed the Department of Health to inform the residents and their families or ask the facility to do it. But they said it was not their responsibility,” Freda said. “It happened on the worst possible day and we couldn’t get them to see the logic to be proactive about it."

The DOH told Patch they will continue to monitor the residents who were relocated to “make sure they are afforded a choice of their permanent homes and will continue to review the safety and quality of those facilities.”

Municipality staff, local officials along with Sen. Andrew Zwicker will be meeting this week to assess what happened and make recommendations to the state to try to help families in the future.

Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com