Backers of Motion Picture & Television Fund nursing home, hospital appeal to Katzenberg
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The saga over the future of Hollywood’s most famous nursing home continues.
‘Saving the Lives of Our Own,’ a group fighting to keep the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s Woodland Hills nursing home and hospital alive, took its appeal directly to the man who has been among its biggest benefactors: Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief of DreamWorks Animation SKG.
In a letter to Katzenberg, who chairs the fund’s foundation, the group called on the Hollywood executive to oppose the planned shutdown of the facilities, contending the decision announced earlier this year violates the fund’s mission of ‘taking care of our own.’
‘The truth, Mr. Katzenberg, is that the MPTF’s disloyalty to its history and values impacts the entire entertainment industry community -- past, present and future,’’ the letter stated. ‘We ask you now, before it’s too late, to take full measure of the damage and destruction that could become your legacy.’
Katzenberg and fund officials declined to comment.
He and other fund representatives have repeatedly stated that closing the nursing home and hospital is a painful but necessary step because they lose millions each year and that continuing to operate them would jeopardize other services that the charity provides to entertainment industry workers.
The hospital and nursing home were originally set to close this fall. But a majority of the 100-plus residents refused to move out (about 65 remain), while others have had trouble finding alternate homes. An additional complicating factor is a possible lawsuit that residents and their families have threatened to file if the residents are formally evicted.
Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for the fund, reiterated last week that the facilities would close in a ‘timely manner’ but declined to specify when that would occur. ‘This is a group of people committed to finding appropriate beds for everyone.’
-- Richard Verrier
