HOME HEALTH AGENCY OFFICIAL OUTSOURCED BY COUNTY

A resolution was approved at the Tuesday Cape May County Freeholder meeting that would privatize the home health agency. It was approved unanimously, but with some disagreement. Freeholder Gerald Thorton said he felt he wasn’t given the resources to make some key hires that were essential for the agency to continue, while Freeholder Director Dan Beyel noted that the workstaff doubled in size since 2006. The decision was largely a financial one, as the county was losing about $800,000 a year. The group of Cape Regional Medical Center and the Visiting Nurse Service of Central Jersey will erase that deficit and will pay the county $100,000 in the first year. The resolution calls for a five-year lease on the department.