SOUTH HADLEY — Amid an ongoing crisis in nursing homes and senior care in the state, an ownership change at Vantage Health and Rehab in South Hadley may allow the senior health care center to take in a few displaced residents from other nursing facilities.

The facility off Route 202 at 573 Granby Road, now under the name of Pioneer Valley Health and Rehabilitation, was purchased by Blupoint Healthcare of Newton last week, only a year after the facility was acquired by Vantage in February of 2022. Before that, the nursing home was known as Wingate at South Hadley.

Bonnie Young, the director of business development at Pioneer Valley Health, said that with the new acquisition, Blupoint hopes to restore the reputation the home had under the Wingate name.

“We had a great reputation, it serviced people first versus filling the building,” Young said. “We really want to restore what it was to the community.”

Currently, the center has 132 beds, with 44 for short term and 88 for long term. Young said there were currently 12 open beds at the facility.

The change in ownership comes at a time when other nursing homes in the western Massachusetts area are facing the prospect of closure.

In neighboring Hampden County, four nursing homes in Springfield, Westfield and Chicopee under the ownership of Northeast Health Group are currently set to close. The company claims the state’s Department of Public Health policy setting a limit of two beds to a room has reduced the capacity at the homes, rendering them no longer financially sustainable.

Politicians in the county, such as state Rep. Bud Williams, D-Springfield, are calling on the department to suspend the mandate. According to a release put out by Williams, the closure of the four facilities would result in the displacement of more than 300 residents.

Tracy Carroll, the executive director of the Lathrop Home, a rest home in Northampton, said the closures were part of a larger crisis occurring within senior care facilities in the state, with ongoing staff shortages and difficulty finding open beds.

“To break even, you need a certain amount of heads,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to these people.”

Should the four homes end up closing, Pioneer Valley Health has plans to be able to take in 10 of the displaced residents, according to Young. She said the facility had been working directly with the Willimansett Center East and West, the two homes in Chicopee facing closure, to help relocate some residents.

“We’re planning on helping two people a day for the remainder of this week,” Young said. “We have the referrals that are in the review process to help try and fill the remaining beds that we have open.”

Currently, Pioneer Valley Health employs 150 workers, and is looking to hire additional clinical staff positions. The facility also plans to create pulmonary and cardiovascular care programs under the new ownership, according to a release put out on Monday.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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