Marion Manor problems caused by plague of rumors
As Mark Twain said about the rumors of his death, as usual they are "greatly unfounded."
The same is true of the rumors which have been afloat for weeks in regard to Marion Manor nursing home in Marion.
This past week the "street talk" has it that Administrator Kari Van Zandt fired the entire staff (except for one unnamed nurse) and then she was fired. Those actions were said to virtually have closed the facility.
The nurse was contacted. She has worked at another nursing facility for some time and is not at Marion Manor.
Van Zandt was contacted. She was on duty Tuesday at the nursing home and flatly said "nobody has been fired." She also pointed out that "I'm still here, and everything is going along fine."
In October a popular employee was terminated. Van Zandt would not comment on it, but one fellow employee said it was for "just cause." She would not elaborate.
Since that time, for the past five months, rumors continue to circulate.
This week the Marion County Record is attempting to separate fact from fiction.
It is true that Marion Manor has received more than the usual amount of "write ups" following state inspection. The Marion County Record has a print out of the infractions.
For years the nursing home had gone through state inspections with only a few noted infractions, two or three pages, but the latest inspection revealed 43 pages of infractions.
Van Zandt said she came to Marion to get things in order, and to improve the facilities.
She noted that the nursing home was re-inspected in February with "no deficiencies."
She said everything is going well, "a lot of changes have been made but we've improved Marion Manor."
Van Zandt has been involved in long term care for a decade, has a bachelor's degree in public administration and a master's in psychology.
She formerly was administrator of a 31-bed facility at Abilene, the move to the 72-bed facility at Marion as "definitely a step up."
She looks forward to public cooperation to improve Marion Manor.
