Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

CEO Preston Wisner visits with Margaret Cardone and Sister Celine Nolan, residents of Our Lady of Fatima Villa.

Lady of Fatima Villa joins large Catholic health group

By Julie Mehta

Our Lady of Fatima Villa last week became part of Catholic Health Initiatives, a new organization that spans 21 states and includes more than 350 health-care facilities.

On May 1, the 85-bed Saratoga nursing home and convalescent hospital joined the new venture, which was formed by the merger of Nebraska-based Catholic Health Corporation, Franciscan Health System in Pennsylvania, and Sisters of Charity Health Care Systems in Ohio. It represents $4.5 billion in net revenue.

Our Lady of Fatima Villa, now almost 50 years old, has been part of the Catholic Health Corporation since 1986; it will now be in Catholic Health Initiatives' western region.

This region is headed by Bill Arnold, formerly senior vice president of Hospital and Health Services for the Franciscan Health System. Arnold calls the formation of the new corporation the "most profound change to take place in Catholic health care over the last 50 years."

This new organization will have the expansive resources to compete in today's market, according to Preston Wisner, President/CEO of Our Lady of Fatima Villa, and its group purchasing power and marketing capabilities will mean economic benefits for its member facilities.

But Wisner is not completely optimistic about the merger. "My concern is Big Brother watching over us. We've always been very independent." Regardless, he says that patients at the facility will not be directly impacted by the transition.

Wisner says he is still planning to build a new nursing home and assisted-living facility to house 139 seniors, but is not sure if Saratoga will be its site because of the recent passage of Measure G, which requires voter approval for development projects that need a parcel's general plan designation to be changed to one more dense.

"If there are too many hurdles and it gets too costly, we might go somewhere else," says Wisner. He hopes to make a final decision on where to build the project in the fall.