Presbyterian Senior Living cancels merger plan

A proposed merger between a York County faith-based senior care group and a similar organization in Florida has been called off.

Citing a desire to remain independent, Presbyterian Senior Living in Carroll Township and Westminster Communities of Florida in Orlando said Friday they would be discontinuing their merger discussions, which were announced earlier this year.

“As we looked deeper into what a joint organization would look like, both parties determined the best way to serve their respective constituents was to remain independent organizations,” said James Bernardo, acting CEO at Presbyterian Senior Living.

The organizations announced in April that they would be entering a memorandum of understanding to piece together a merger plan. The CEOs of both Presbyterian and Westminster were retiring and the plan was to find one CEO that could lead the combined senior care group.

With the merger’s cancelation, former CEO Steve Proctor has retired from Presbyterian and James Bernardo, the senior care organization’s COO took the position over until a permanent leader can be found.

The merger was expected to help increase investments in technology and staff. The new organization would also have looked at merging with other faith-based organizations.

“We definitely appreciated the collaborative nature of working with Westminster on the exploration process, but we mutually agreed that we were better off serving our constituents the way we always have,” said Kristin Hambleton, vice president of sales and marketing for Presbyterian.

Westminster was not immediately available for further comment on the merger’s cancellation.

Presbyterian has 32 communities in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and Delaware with over 6,000 seniors. Westminster has 22 communities in Florida with 7,000 residents.