ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Residents of the abruptly closed Northview Village Nursing Home have had many of their belongings stolen.
The facility suddenly shut down on Friday, December 16th, with no notice given to employees, residents and their families. This displaced more than 170 patients.
Since then, the St. Louis City Senior Fund approved up to $174,000 in emergency funding to assist the residents who were displaced. The St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment [SLATE] also provided support by having two job fairs for displaced employees.
Jamie Opsal is a Senior Fund Board member. She said while the building has been vacant, people are taking advantage.
"We do know that people came into the nursing home and stole people's personal belongings, their televisions, their telephones and ransacked the place," Opsal said.
Opsal said patients had to leave everything behind when they were being cleared and moved from the facility.
"Many of the people were moved without any of their belongings," Opsal said. "There was one person that was moved with no pants, no shoes, no socks, and a lot of their personal items were stolen."
Because many residents had items stolen, the Senior Fund is working on a plan to help. Opsal said St. Louis City has started organizing case managers.
"By law, [the previous residents] have a choice to move to a facility that they want to move to. And [this will help] to find out what items that they have lost, that we can hopefully replenish," Opsal said.
United Way is also helping to fundraise for the residents.