Citing financial losses at its personal-care home, Woodland Place said Tuesday it is closing that operation as part of an overall reorganization. The closing doesn't affect Woodland's nursing home.

Twenty-three residents in the personal-care home will have to find other accommodations and Woodland is helping them, said Charlie Bish, Woodland's administrator.

"There are lots of wonderful assisted-living facilities in the county, many with open beds,'' Bish said. He expected personal care to close in the next several months.

"But with our reorganization, we will be opening up 15 independent living apartments with their own separate entrance and parking,'' Bish said. "We will also be finishing the remodeling of our nursing home.''

A $1.8 million grant state Department of Public Welfare through the Pennsylvania Association of County Homes is funding the renovation at the Coolspring Township non-profit home. Since buying it from Mercer County on Jan. 1, 1998, the organization has spent $3 million in renovations and the latest project will finish the job, Bish said. The nursing home always has broken even financially, he added.

Renovations are expected to begin in June and be completed early next year. Terms of the grant call for Woodland to reduce the number of its beds from 125 to 100. By reducing the number of beds, the home will need only two nursing stations rather than four, Bish said.

As a result of the reorganization, staffing at Woodland will be reduced by 15 to 20 positions, with the main losses in nursing and housekeeping employees.

Closing the personal-care operation was a difficult decision, Bish said. "We've been agonizing on how to handle this for some time,'' he said.

He noted that the facility is in an older section of Woodland and has had declining occupancy during the last four years. Residents of personal care and their families have been notified by mail that the operation's closing.

"We're in pretty good shape now as a nursing home,'' Bish said. "The decisions we've made will allow us to be competitive and survive.''

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