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New Castle
,
PA
–
March 26, 2008
– Jameson Health System and Celtic Healthcare today announced an
agreement that will provide improved comprehensive home healthcare
services for residents of
Lawrence
County
.
Celtic Healthcare
has purchased home healthcare operations from Jameson, while
offering to retain all current Jameson Visiting Nurses’
Association (JVNA) staff as employees of Celtic Healthcare,
according to Thomas White, president/CEO of Jameson Health System.
The name of the new entity will be Celtic Healthcare of Lawrence.
Hospice services
will remain a part of Jameson Health System.
“Jameson’s
first priority in all critical decisions is providing an optimal
continuum of care for the residents of
Lawrence
County
. That priority is followed immediately by a commitment to the
employees of the Health System,” said White. “Celtic
Healthcare has effectively demonstrated its ability to offer a
robust list of visiting nurse capabilities that will benefit our
home-bound and geographically remote patients immensely, while
offering a coordinated option for providing this care and ensuring
the retention of those existing JVNA employees that desire to join
Celtic Healthcare.”
“This
arrangement is a perfect fit.
We are aligning ourselves with an organization that has a
strong history of the same culture and vision that Celtic
Healthcare embraces. With
this acquisition, there is no place to go but up – for the
Lawrence
County
community and for
the Jameson VNA employees,” states Arnie Burchianti, CEO and
president of Celtic Healthcare.
“We look forward to earning a place in the
Lawrence
County
community and
will strive to exceed expectations.”
Services currently
offered through JVNA include skilled nursing, IV therapy, maternal
child nursing, enterostomal therapy (wound care), mental health
nursing, home health aides, physical therapy, speech therapy,
occupational therapy, nutritional services and medical social
services. Celtic Healthcare’s purchase of JVNA will strengthen
these existing services and will add a number of key features
including the ability to cover a larger geographic territory,
servicing all areas of
Lawrence
County
; disease management and other specialty programs. New
technologies, such as Telehealth, will enable better quality of
care and access to important healthcare information to the patient
at home via telephone.
With the transition
to Celtic Healthcare, nursing staff will be provided with the
latest in technological tools including laptop computers with
customized software solutions, electronic medical records
capabilities, high-speed internet access at the point of care,
cell phones for ease of communication between staff, patients and
allied health professionals and enhanced computer-based
information exchange capabilities.
Jameson’s senior
nursing, human resources and executive management team met with
JVNA employees on Tuesday, March 25 to provide details of the
agreement, answer questions and offer assistance in planning for
the transition to Celtic Healthcare.
“JVNA
employees understandably have concerns regarding this new
relationship and how it will affect them personally. Our meetings
were very positive. JVNA employees are encouraged by Celtic
Healthcare’s 2007 ranking as the
Best Place
to Work in
Western Pennsylvania
in the Large Company category,” said Neil Chessin,
Vice-president of operations for Jameson Health System. “At the
end of the day, JVNA’s transition to Celtic Healthcare provides
significant advantages for the residents of
Lawrence
County
and all concerned parties.”
About
Celtic Healthcare
Celtic Healthcare, Inc. (Celtic) is a leading regional
full-continuum home healthcare services provider.
Headquartered north of Pittsburgh in Mars, PA, Celtic
offers a comprehensive array of home health-related services,
including: Geriatric Care Management, Living Assistance Services,
Homecare, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech/Language
Pathology, Medical/Surgical Nursing, Mental Health Nursing,
Medical Social Services, Palliative and Hospice Care, through an
integrated multi-organizational approach.
Celtic Healthcare was named #1
Large Company in the 2007 “Best Places to Work in
Western Pennsylvania
”
and was ranked #5 out of
Pittsburgh
’s
100 fastest growing companies by the
Pittsburgh
Business Times.
For more information, visit www.celtichealthcare.com
or call
1.800.355.8894
.
About
Jameson Health System
Jameson Health System serves the community from the North Campus
of Jameson Memorial Hospital, which it has occupied since 1929,
and the South Campus, which it
acquired from
St.
Francis
Hospital
of
New Castle
in 2002.
With 300 beds, Jameson
operates as a full-service acute care facility offering a full
continuum of health and human services in
New Castle
,
Lawrence
County
.
Jameson employs over 1,200 full and part-time employees
with a payroll exceeding $65 million a year and is
Lawrence
County
’s largest employer. The
local economic impact of Jameson Health System is over $187
million. Jameson's Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws
require that each member of the board of directors of Jameson
Health System, Jameson Hospital and its other subsidiaries and its
general membership be residents or maintain a business in Lawrence
County, thereby assuring community based control of the Health
System and its subsidiaries.
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