DAVIS LIFE CARE PURCHASES PB NURSING HOME, BROADENS FOCUS

By Richard Duke/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

Davis Life Care, a nursing and rehabilitation facility, has purchased Pine Bluff Nursing Home in a transaction that officials believe could offer area senior citizens and those who need additional care with new options.

The purchase was actually made by Jefferson LTC Properties Inc., a holding company for Davis Life Care, but chief executive officer Mike Shepard said that the entity, located at 3701 S. Main St. in Pine Bluff, would be a prime location for a gerontology clinic. He said several services would be offered, but he said he needed to wait for state approval before revealing details.

“We are in the process of creating a gerontology campus, and we believe that this area will benefit us greatly,” he said. “Purchasing this is just another step in the process.”

The nursing home was purchased for $4.05 million from Southeast Properties, which bought the facility out of receivership after it had been foreclosed. In 1999, Trinity Healthcare purchased the nursing home from the local owners and, according to Shepard, did not run the place effectively. It was foreclosed on July 6, 2005. At its height, Shepard said the nursing home had 245 beds for patients.

Davis Life Care, located at 6710 Hazel St., also owns Whispering Knoll, an assisted living facility, and documents were finalized for the purchase of Garden Pointe, a division of Pathfinder facilities. Both are located on South Hazel.

Because Davis wants to create a gerontology clinic at the Pine Bluff Nursing Home location, Shepard said that residents and staff will be relocated to the Davis center in the coming weeks.

“This is an historic place, the premiere facility for care for the elderly for years and years,” Shepard said. “We will not be doing anything to that building except changing its purpose.”

Davis Life Care, originally part of Jefferson Regional Medical Center, has since branched out on its own, and has created a number of options for elderly patients and those who need assisted living arrangements.

Administrators at Pine Bluff Nursing Home were not available for comment.