Mercy Medical of Daphne, Ala., sold its main campus to Florida's SE Healthcare Dec. 1 and has identified a buyer for its assisted living and independent living facilities. Mercy now is focusing on a newly opened Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly and home health and hospice services.
Mercy sold its main acute rehabilitation hospital and skilled nursing facility to SE Healthcare for $9.4 million. The facilities no longer are Catholic. Donna Wilhelm, vice president of sales and marketing for Mercy, said Mercy does not anticipate that there will be major changes in services or staffing.
Mercy plans to sell its assisted living communities to Covenant Group of Fort Worth, Texas. Those campuses include the 143-bed Carroll Place in Fairhope, Ala.; the 92-bed Catherine Place in Daphne; and the 64-bed John McClure Snook Memory Care Community in Daphne. Mercy also plans to sell its independent living community in Fairhope, which is called the Hamlet.
On Dec. 1, Mercy began operating a new PACE program called Mercy LIFE of Alabama for poor and underserved elderly people. That program, along with the home health and hospice services, remains part of Mercy's parent, Catholic Health East of Newtown Square, Pa.
Sr. Susanne Ashton, RSM, MD, a member of the Mercy Medical Board of Trustees, said the move is reminiscent of past transitions by the Sisters of Mercy in Daphne. Both then and now, she said, when the sisters recognize that the services and care their ministries provide can be carried out by others, they transition their focus to other unmet needs in the community.