CWA Local 1036 represents 300 workers at Buttonwood Hospital, a County-owned hospital and nursing home in Burlington County. Buttonwood is one of the few of its kind in the state. We provide long-term nursing care to 170 senior citizens, most of which are Medicare and Medicaid patients. Buttonwood also provides a separate 30 beds for psychiatric, addiction, and other emergency care needs. It has been in operation for 100 years, serving thousands of County residents and their families through very difficult times.
Unfortunately, Burlington County Freeholders are proposing to sell Buttonwood in the first quarter of this year, because, like everywhere else, County budgets are suffering. Federal Medicare reimbursements are being reduced, so this year Buttonwood is projected by a County consultant to run a $4 million deficit, which would be subsidized with County dollars. However, $4 million equates to only $23.52 per household per year, which means the Freeholders are literally closing a top-shelf non-profit nursing home to "save" $25 per year per household.
Buttonwood Nursing Home has received 4 out of 5 stars from the US Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for overall quality, safety, and staffing. Of 18 nursing homes in Burlington, Buttonwood’s ranking is higher than 10 other for-profit Medicare facilities (which receive below-average and poor rankings from Medicare) and is the best-rated Medicare facility of its size in the area. Simply put, our members do an incredible job in a very difficult profession.
CWA 1036 is part of the Coalition to Save Buttonwood Hospital comprised of community groups, civil rights groups, faith organizations and churches, patients’ rights advocates, and organized labor. Hospital unions, building trades and public sector unions have joined forces in this coalition to save a stellar community hospital.
For more information, please see the Coalition website and Facebook page.
