When I first laid eyes on Joseph Zupnik three and a half years ago, he was late for the Family Council meeting at my mother’s nursing home, Focus Otsego.
“LATE!” I jotted into my little notebook. Not a good first impression.
He walked in the door and I barely noticed him. I thought he was a late-arriving family member, but he walked right over to the seat next to the administrator.
Joseph Zupnik was tall and thin, the kind of person who folds when he sits down and unfolds when he stands again. His pants were about an inch too short at the ankles and an inch too high at the waist. The muted tones of his plaid shirt were understated and unassuming, like he was. Quiet, mild, articulate. And young.
Almost immediately people started demanding answers from him about staff shortages and retention of the remaining staff. The rumor was that Focus cut salaries by 15% across the board when they took over. The fact was that staff had left in droves.
Joseph sat, calmly folded in his chair, legs folded as he crossed them at the knee, manicured hands folded across his knee, body folded somewhere between slouched and erect. He seemed so relaxed.
And he calmly fielded the questions and spoke of industry standards and union negotiations.
I wanted to say that no one cares about industry standards. These are our parents, not statistics.
Others spoke up though, and talked of how much better this place was than other ones.
And I wanted to say to them that I don’t want relatively good care for my mother. I want the best care.
He stayed with us for an hour and a half. Listening, responding, listening some more.
He knew his stuff. He fully understood the business end of this industry.
He was clinical and dispassionate — a walking statistics book.
Seven other charges against him were dismissed.
His slap on the wrist includes community service. I’d like him to work as an aide in a nursing home for the same number of years he owned nursing homes.
And I’d like him to live on the same pay as the aides who had worked under him.
To me, that would be justice.
And mercy.
He would be a better man for it.
A little background and a final thought.
In the early 1970’s a new building combining the Otsego County Home and the Otsego County Infirmary was built down the road from where I grew up. It was renamed The Meadows, and I remember visiting there with my father when I was young. I believe he was the Medical Director.
When I took a year off from college in 1979, I worked as a nurse’s aide there. Everyone should work in a nursing home at some point to learn compassion (if that can be learned) and to experience how hard and thankless the work is.
Both of my grandmothers and one grandfather were residents at The Meadows.
My father-in-law was a resident of The Meadows when the new building, The Manor, was built. He was among the first crop of residents at The Manor.
My mother lived at The Manor. She was there when it changed hands.
When the county decided to sell, my father had been on the task force charged with finding a buyer.
We had ties to the Otsego County nursing home no matter what its name was.
In the end, the legislators voted to sell to the highest bidder instead of the most qualified purchaser. It was more of an “unloading” than understanding what an important part of this rural area that county facility served. They simply wanted to be rid of it. In my mind those legislators who voted to sell The Manor to Focus Corporation (and Joseph Zupnik) also bear some culpability.
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 