Judge orders Connecticut nursing home to close, 67 people to be laid off

Mar. 13—A Watertown nursing home was ordered to close by a state Superior Court judge as it faces financial issues.

The closure of Trinity Terraces nursing home at 560 Woodbury Road is set to take place in Mayt after the judge in the Hartford court determined the health care facility had "sustained a serious financial loss or failure which jeopardizes the health, safety and welfare of the patients, according to legal documents.

A total of 67 people will lose their jobs when the 46-bed facility closes May 15, according to a filing with the state Department of Labor.

"The defendant has sustained serious financial losses or failures which jeopardizes the health, safety and welfare of the patients under its care," officials with the Connecticut Department of Social Services wrote in a filing with the court, referring to the owners of Trinity Terraces. "The defendant has represented to the Department that it can no longer support and fund the operation of the nursing home facility. The defendant has also represented to the Department that they are in imminent danger of not being able to afford payroll for its licensed healthcare employees and other persons they employ."

The nursing home has been run by a court appointed receiver since late January. The court-appointed receiver, New Haven-based attorney Katharine Sacks, told court officials in February that Trinity Terraces had received over $3 million in cash advances from Medicaid between October 2022 and August 2023 in order to keep the facility operating.

Even with the Medicaid advances, Trinity Terraces racked up operating losses in the range of $3 million, including $1.21 million in unsecured vendor obligations, Sacks told court officials in a financial viability analysis of the nursing home submitted to the court in mid-February.

"There are no indications whatsoever that the licensee's representations regarding the turnaround of the facility's financial fortunes were ever feasible or realistic," the report from Sacks said in part.

Trinity Terraces had been closed by a previous owner, who shut the nursing home down due to death in the family and mounting financial losses, according to Sacks. The facility reopened in October 2022, even though the principal had no previous experience operating a nursing home, according to the court filings.

Sacks said the successful operation of the nursing home was further hampered by its size.

"Nursing homes of this size are very difficult to operate at a profit due to insufficient revenue available to cover the basic fixed cost overhead needed to operate any nursing home compliantly," she wrote in her report to the court. "The industry is highly regulated and calls for a layer of administrative and operational personnel who are familiar with the laws and regulations needed to be followed to operate a nursing home."

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