Employees waiting on paycheck after Omaha living care facility closes
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – A group of employees are waiting for their final paychecks after a care facility in Omaha closed down.
Via Christe, located in the historic Cathedral neighborhood, was a facility that cared for many low-income residents, but on Sept. 30, it closed its doors.
The nursing home simply ran out of money.
The notice on the door of the facility says the building is scheduled to have the power turned off and owners say one of the problems is the way the facility is reimbursed for Medicaid clients.
“We can’t bill them until the need of the months and then we don’t get paid until the middle of the following month,” said Barney Gordon, a part owner of Via Christe. “We had no money to make that last payroll, the third one of the month.”
“I have house notes to pay and insurance and car notes,” said Coranna Thompson, a former employee at Via Christe. “To find out we’re not going to get paid at all shocked me, and initially I was really hurt because I’d been there for so long.
“A lot of us, we could have jumped ship and went and found other employment,” said Oree Thompson, who worked as an assistant administrator at the facility. “But we wanted to stick around to make sure everyone was placed and had a new home.”
One of the Via Christe employees had this happen before, when the Golden Living Care facility shut its doors several years ago.
“It definitely makes me rethink [working in] healthcare,” said Catrina Hawkins said.
A lot of the Via Christe employees stayed to make sure the residents were cared for and went above and beyond to make sure they had a new place to live.
“A lot of my staff stayed,” said Ruth Humphrey, a former administrator. “We packed them up, we loaded them in our vans, in the U-Haul that I rented. We loaded them in their personal trucks and took them to the facilities that they were going to. We drove them in our own vehicles to these places because we care about the residents. So now, we’re going on two weeks without pay. A lot of folks, including myself, are depending on that.”
The owners of the facility promise the employees that they’ll be paid after they get their funds from the state.
“It’s late, it’s not timely, but they will get paid,” Gordon said. “I’m sorry. We feel terrible. I wish it were a different story. We had no other money. The only money we have coming is from the state and there’s enough to cover the payroll. I know they’re not satisfied with that. They’re not happy with that. I understand, but I don’t know what else we can do.”
Hawkins worked as a nurse at Via Christe and she hopes the owners are telling the truth.
“We don’t really do it for the money because it just pays the bills,” Hawkins said. “You’re not making any extra money. You’re not putting money into a 401k or savings. We’re doing it because we have passion to take care of people.”
The owners say the company has been sold to an investor from California and right now they’re working to sell the building.
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