Hundreds of Nursing Home Workers From Across the Nation Rally for Improved Nursing Home Care

Two members of the group went inside the shareholders meeting as proxies-SEIU District 1199 President Dave Regan and Carol Lafferty, a nursing aide at a Manor Care facility in Beckley, West Virginia. Regan addressed Manor Care management and shareholders, calling on them to make specific commitments to work with the Carlyle Group to improve care and ensure safe staffing as part of the deal.  Manor Care CEO Paul Ormond refused to answer or was unresponsive to questions raised about the deal.

"Manor Care shareholders and executives will do very well for themselves in this deal -- we are concerned the interests of other nursing home stakeholders are at risk," said Regan, who heads SEIU District 1199, a union with more than 28,000 health care, social service and public sector members across Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. "Quality problems and short staffing at Manor Care homes across the country are putting nursing home resident at risk. Carlyle and Manor Care should commit to making improvements or this will be a raw deal for seniors, taxpayers and workers."

A recent front page expos by the New York Times detailed how cuts to staffing and operations at
nursing homes bought by private equity firms across the country have enriched top executives
and buyout firms but left nursing home residents worse off. Read the article here.

"Caregivers want a voice in this deal so we can make sure that our residents get the care they deserve," said Lafferty, who works at Heartland of Beckley, a Manor Care nursing home in West Virginia. "We will continue to speak out as long as it takes to make sure that happens."

Coalitions of nursing home workers, patient advocates, and elected and community leaders in states where Manor Care operates have mounted grassroots efforts to protect seniors, taxpayers, and workers who are being put at risk in the deal. The states include Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Washington. In each state, the coalitions are calling on Carlyle to make specific commitments to improve care at Manor Care nursing homes and reaching out to lawmakers and regulators with their concerns about the impact of the deal on seniors, taxpayers, and workers.

The multi-state effort is the largest ever public campaign focused on the impact of a private equity buyout on people's lives.

Following the shareholders vote, a group of more than two dozen Manor Care workers and their supporters will travel by caravan through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland to the Carlyle Group's headquarters in Washington, DC where they plan to hold demonstrations and lobby members of Congress. The caravan will include stops at Manor Care nursing homes, the offices of elected officials, and churches. The caravan is being organized by the nation's largest healthcare workers union, SEIU Healthcare. The caravan's full itinerary is available online at CarlyleFixManorCareNow.org.

SEIU Healthcare has called on Congress to hold hearings and consider new legislative reforms related to private equity ownership of nursing homes.

Background for reporters
 The takeover will result in a windfall of as much as $250 million for top Manor Care executives and directors, including as much as $186 million for Manor Care CEO Paul Ormond. Carlyle stands to reap fees on the deal that could total hundreds of millions of dollars.

 Manor Care will pay no corporate taxes while it is owned by Carlyle, cutting federal, state and local tax revenue by more than $600 million over five years, including $60 million in state and local tax revenues, based on an SEIU analysis using conservative assumptions.

 Even prior to the buyout, Manor Care already has a record of failing to provide all its residents with quality care:

Violations on the rise: Citations for federal health standards violations at Manor Care nursing homes nationwide have increased nearly 30 percent over the past three inspection cycles. Under federal law, every nursing home must undergo inspection every 9 to 15 months.

Inadequate staffing: In a 2001 study prepared for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, experts identified a staffing threshold below which quality of care was compromised. SEIU has found that staffing at many Manor Care facilities does not meet that threshold.

 The only other Carlyle-owned long term care provider, LifeCare Hospitals, was alleged to have responsibility for a high profile tragedy when 24 patients in a New Orleans LifeCare hospital died awaiting evacuation after Hurricane Katrina.

 SEIU is calling on Carlyle to make specific commitments to improve care at Manor Care nursing homes. Those commitments are for the Carlyle Group to:

1. Ensure that its nursing homes are in compliance with federal minimum resident care regulations at all times.
2. Ensure that its nursing homes are staffed at levels recommended by independent experts.
3. Disclose the impact of its Manor Care buyout to the nursing home residents, workers and taxpayers in each state.
4. Structure its buyout so that Manor Care staff has a role in the reorganization and benefit from its outcome.
5. Create a Quality Care Fund and a new advisory committee comprised of Manor Care staff, resident advocacy groups and other stakeholders to improve patient care in all Manor Care homes.

About HCR Manor Care
HCR Manor Care, based in Toledo, Ohio, is the largest nursing home provider in the country, with more than 37,000 resident beds nationwide and $3.6 billion in annual revenue.

About the Carlyle Group
With more than $75 billion in assets under management, the Carlyle Group is one of the five largest corporate buyout firms in the nation.  Washington, DC-based Carlyle owns companies that together employ more than 280,000 workers. The firm's three co-founders, David Rubenstein, William Conway, and Daniel D'Aniello each have a net worth estimated by Forbes at more than $2.5 billion. A recent study estimated Rubenstein's 2006 compensation at $260 million. For more information on the Carlyle Group visit www.BehindtheBuyouts.org/carlyle