LUMBERTON — UNC Health Southeastern announced Wednesday that the health system is exploring the transfer of ownership of its long-term care facility, WoodHaven Nursing Center, to Liberty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Services.

“UNC Health Southeastern sought a partner that specializes in long-term care and would commit to opening all available beds at the WoodHaven Nursing Center for our community,” said UNC Health Southeastern President/CEO Chris Ellington. “The added availability of long-term care beds is needed in our area and will help add more jobs to our local economy.”

UNC Health Southeastern is committed to an agreement which guarantees that all teammates will retain employment, either by transitioning into the new long-term care agency, or transferring into an available position within its health system.

WoodHaven employs 85 teammates with a typical census of 78 residents, including 52 long-term care residents, and 15 Alzheimer’s and 11 short-term rehabilitation patients.

In December 1986, UNC Health Southeastern moved long-term care beds from its medical center to the stand-alone WoodHaven Nursing Center. The Alzheimer’s wing opened in 1989 and short-term rehabilitation was added in 2015.

“Liberty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Services is very excited about the opportunity to provide quality care and outcomes to the residents of Robeson County,” said David J. Oliver, Executive Director of Liberty Advantage. “We are committed to maintaining the excellent care that the patients of WoodHaven have been receiving while making a positive impact in the community.”

Liberty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Services is a division of Liberty Healthcare, a family-owned and operated company with a strong commitment to caring with excellence. Since 1875, the McNeill family has developed and operated health care services throughout North Carolina and beyond. To learn more, visit liberty-healthcare.com/

Home – Liberty Healthcare

Liberty Healthcare’s Family of Companies Since 1875, Liberty Healthcare has proudly offered a continuum of senior care services throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Florida. Our comprehensive approach to senior care gives patients, residents and their loved ones the peace of mind in knowing that Liberty understands and can support their needs. liberty-healthcare.com

Hospice Transition

In continued efforts to more closely align with the health system’s overarching mission and vision, and to ensure more operational efficiency, UNC Health Southeastern will transfer its outpatient hospice program to Lower Cape Fear LifeCare on May 1. UNC Health Southeastern will continue to offer inpatient hospice services.

“The partnership with LifeCare will enable more citizens of our region to have access to in-home hospice care,” Ellington said. “Additionally, UNC Health Southeastern will add palliative care resources for hospice patients in the hospital.”

Lower Cape Fear LifeCare is a nonprofit agency which has been serving communities in southeastern North Carolina, including neighboring Bladen and Columbus counties, for more than 40 years.

“We are excited about the opportunity to partner with UNC Health Southeastern to provide in-home hospice care to patients and their families in Robeson County,” said Timothy King, Lower Cape Fear LifeCare Chief Operating Officer. “This expansion is a logical progression of our nonprofit’s mission to ensure that residents in our region living with a life-limiting illness have access to comprehensive, compassionate, high-quality care and support. We are ecstatic to add Robeson County to our service area.” For more information, visit Lifecare.org.

Although UNC Health Southeastern has a long-standing record of providing quality long-term and hospice care in the region, these transitions are positive moves for an exciting future not only for patients but also communities that are served by these new health care providers.

“We are proud that we have been able to provide long-term care and outpatient hospice services to our community for such an extended amount of time, but we see numerous advantages to transitioning these services to proven experts in these fields who will bring high quality care to Robeson County and growth potential that will benefit the job outlook as well as the local economy,” Ellington said.