Allure’s purchase of Pinecrest Community complete

MT. MORRIS — As the final minutes of November approached, Pinecrest Community’s third-shift employees clocked-out of their jobs at the Mt. Morris-based nonprofit. Once midnight came and went, they clocked back in as employees of Allure of Pinecrest.

Allure Healthcare Services’ purchase of Pinecrest Community was finalized Dec. 1. Pinecrest is a continuing care retirement campus with 129 years of history that today serves approximately 170 residents.

“There’s just a lot of things changing all at once,” Allure of Pinecrest Administrator Ferol Labash said on Dec. 13, when asked how things have gone since the closing. “It’s going to take us a little time. The new ownership has had about a week. There’s a lot that they’re looking at, that they’re analyzing.”

Labash was Pinecrest Community’s CEO prior to the sale.

Allure, which is headquartered in Chicago, owns nine other nursing facilities, including ones in Sterling, Mount Carroll and Prophetstown. Its centers provide short-term stays for respite or rehabilitation, hospice care, dementia and memory care, 24-hour nursing care, various therapies and more, according to AllureHCS.com.

Pinecrest’s Board of Directors sought a buyer because of a combination of increased costs, staff shortages and lost revenue, Labash said in a previous interview.

“Pinecrest has been losing $150,000 or more each month during the last two years, which has caused us to burn through cash at a rate that alerted the board and management to the need to act,” she told the Church of the Brethren Newsline.

Pinecrest Community was formed in 1893 as “Brethren Home” by the Church of the Brethren to care for seniors and orphans; the church was affiliated with Pinecrest before the sale, but no longer owned it. The sale ended that affiliation.

“The Church of the Brethren is grieving this loss, and we realize that there were factors and situations beyond the control of the Pinecrest board that really forced them to seek a buyer,” said Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, Church of the Brethren news service director. “I think the prayers of the church are with Pinecrest employees and residents as they go through this change.”

There are a few job positions that existed within Pinecrest Community that Allure didn’t hire on, Labash said. Of the approximately 155 Pinecrest employees, four were laid off; others employees whose positions changed were offered alternate work with Allure, she said.

“I’m really seeing a good effort from Allure management to keep our staff employed,” Labash said.

Allure’s vice president of operations met with Pinecrest certified nursing assistants on Dec. 13 to “talk through a lot of their questions,” Labash said, adding that she thinks the meeting answered many questions staff members had. Similar meetings are planned with other departments, she said.

“All my interactions with the new ownership, they’re doing their best to really do right by our employees,” Labash said. “They’re trying to make sure they’re doing their best for our employees, while also turning the financial situation around.”

The wait for employees while higher-ups analyze various aspects of the company can be difficult, because staff aren’t always privy to that part of things and finding answers takes time, she acknowledged.

Labash said she expects things to improve once some of the unknowns are sorted out and as people become more comfortable with the new owners.

“It’s just a process,” she said. “I think it’s just going to take a few months.”

Calls to reach a representative from Allure were not returned as of Tuesday night.