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Feds Forgave Troubled Northview Village’s $1.9M PPP Loan | St. Louis

Published

9 months ago

January 17, 2024

Natural Bridge

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click to enlarge GOOGLE EARTH SCREENSHOT Northview Village is located St. Louis’ Kingsgway West neighborhood.

What a difference a few years can make.

In April 2020, the federal government awarded a Paycheck Protection Program loan worth $1,970,487 to the partnership group that ran Northview Village Nursing Home in St. Louis.

The following year, federal regulators awarded Northview its lowest rating, a single star — “much below average” — on a five-star rating system, citing the facility for severe staff shortages.

Regulators also documented two abuse and neglect complaints at Northview, and nine quality of life complaints, resulting in eight separate fines totalling $86,373, Medicare records show.

Nonetheless, the U.S. Treasury Department in that year forgave the nearly $2 million PPP loan to Northview Village, federal records show.

Flash forward to December 15, 2023.

That afternoon, as Northview Village workers prepared for their annual Holiday party, several were notified that Chicago businessman Maklouf “Mark” Suissa, the leader of the partnership group that owns and operates Northview, would be shutting down the nursing home, located at 2415 North Kingshighway.

That decision touched a frantic overnight scramble to move the facility’s 170 residents to other nursing homes.

The result: chaos.

Many family members spent days looking for loved ones. Police found one mentally ill patient walking on a nearby street three days later. It took three weeks to locate the final missing resident, and the personal belongings for many, if not most, are still missing.

And the facility’s 180 workers were stiffed out of their final paychecks and vacation pay one week before Christmas, forcing many to wonder how they would be able to pay their rent and utility bills.

For Lenny Jones, the vice-president and Missouri state director of the healthcare division of the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, nothing about the closure of Northview Village makes sense — except greed.

“Their argument…that it’s a financial thing and the state needs to pay them more is bullshit,” Jones said.

Jones noted that the federal government, through the Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs, paid nearly every dime of patient expenses. The forgiven PPP loan was just free money.

Northview’s sudden closure was “a premeditated act that’s just a sign of how these owners milk the system so they can pad their pockets,” Jones said. “They can give a rat’s ass about what happens to residents, what happens to the workers.”

Maklouf Suissa did not return several messages left Tuesday at the offices of Healthcare Service Accounting, the Brentwood-based health facility management firm that Suissa owns and that operates Northview, along with other nursing homes.

Sharon Tyus, the Ward 12 alderman who represents the district where Northview is located, has already authored a resolution calling for the Board of Aldermen to conduct its own investigation into Northview’s closure.

Tyus reserved judgment as who’s to blame for the nursing home’s closure and the chaos that followed. But news that Northview’s owners received nearly $2 million in the form of a forgiven PPP loan “angers me,” Tyus says. “It angers me how he treats the patients.”

Tyus is especially incensed over the fact that Northview’s workers are still waiting for their paychecks.

“And they can’t get anything from a strike fund because they’re not on strike,” says Tyus, who says she contributed $5,000 of her own money to a fund to compensate laid-off Northview employees.

During a rally held outside Northview on December 19 and sponsored by SEIU, long-time employees such as Marvetta Harrison expressed outrage over how they could lose their jobs while still being owed weeks’ worth of back pay and vacation time.

“I think it’s a disgrace the way things were done,” said Harrison, who worked 37 years at Northview. “It was just terrible the way it went.”

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services opened an investigation into the nursing home closure on December 15, according to department spokeswoman Lisa Cox.

Over the last three years, nursing homes connected to Maklouf and his wife, Lorraine Suissa, have shown a knack for two things: winning big PPP loans that are later forgiven and racking up big fines under the federal Medicare inspection program.

Consider Cori Manor in Fenton, whose ownership is split 50-50 between the Suissas, Medicare records show.

Cori Manor in April 2020 won $704,555 in the form of a PPP loan that the feds forgave more than a year later.

Meanwhile, Cori Manor rated a two-star average — “below average” — and was fined 13 separate times in 2021 and 2022, for a total of $48,038, according to data compiled by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS.

Or consider the case of Elmwood Nursing and Rehab Center, in Maryville, Illinois, located a short drive east of St. Louis in Madison County.

Elmwood collected $458,535 in a PPP loan in 2020. Medicare awarded it the lowest overall rating, one star — “much below average” — and gave one-star ratings for health inspections and staffing, CMS records show.

Maklouf Suissa owns a 42 percent share of Elmwood, by far the largest amount of any shareholder, CMS records show, while the facility is run by Suissa’s firm, Healthcare Accounting Service.

Elmwood was cited repeatedly for health, fire and emergency deficiencies. On March 15, 2023, the nursing home was ordered to pay a fine of $109,980, and ordered to pay a series of other fines ranging between nearly $12,000 and nearly $80,000.

Between December 2020 and March 2023, Elmwood was ordered to pay a combined $331,567 in fines, CMS records show.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

5 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

5 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

5 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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