Geraldine Ward was moved to two hospitals and then a care center in Tacoma. Four days after the last move, she died.

“I felt that the trauma of the transfers contributed to her early death,” said Ward, 90, president of the Patriots Landing Residents Council. “The transfers were because we have no skilled nursing facility nearby.”

Ward and other residents at the 182-bed community of retired military personnel and their spouses said they are outraged that the state has denied an application by Patriots Landing LLC to build an 80-bed skilled-nursing facility next door.

State Department of Health officials say their review of the 2004 application showed at least 300 vacant beds in other parts of Pierce County where skilled nursing services could be provided.

Under state law, they cannot grant approval for a new facility unless need can be established, said Steve Saxe, the department’s director of health professions and facilities.

“In our review, we could not see where their application met the need criteria,” Saxe said.

Patriots Landing LLC has appealed the denial to Thurston County Superior Court. Judge Christine Pomeroy will conduct a hearing on the appeal today.

Pomeroy is not expected to take additional testimony, but will review the record and either uphold or deny the administrative decision or delay action to allow time for additional review.

For the residents, who have been battling the issue for four years, time is running out, they say.

“There are 200 people here, and the clock is ticking,” Ward said. “Every day, one of us is closer to getting kicked out.”

Resident Donnie Weeks, a Pierce County activist who previously helped get a community mental health center built, said the lack of a skilled-nursing facility in DuPont forces elderly couples to be separated at a time when they most need each other. Most of the residents are unable to drive; a shuttle bus offers limited transportation, she said.

For example, she said, resident Bob Myers, a retired Army colonel, has been paying up to $70 per day for taxi fare to visit his wife, Rena, who was moved to an Olympia skilled-nursing facility.

“What happens after 80 – where do you go?” asked Weeks, 83, who uses a wheelchair.

Senior state assistant attorney general Joyce Roper, who is legal counsel to the Department of Health, said the certificate of need process was designed to control the costs of health care facilities and to manage competition so that approved facilities stay fiscally sound.

She said the state does not want to set up a situation where residents are living in a facility that fails because of lack of income.

“If you have an open-wide process, it drives up health care costs short-term and drives bankruptcy in the long term,” Roper said.

Under state law, the need is assessed county-wide and location is not a criteria, Roper said.

But Weeks, Ward and other residents say location matters.

With no skilled-nursing beds in DuPont, their fears of displacement to communities outside their comfort zones are fanned, she said.

“They have some in Steilacoom or Lakewood,” Weeks said. “There’s very little resources within 10 miles out.”

Keri Brenner: 360-754-5435

WHAT: A hearing on Patriots Landing LLC’s appeal of a state Department of Health denial of a certificate of need for a skilled nursing facility.

WHEN: 1:30 p.m. today

WHERE: Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy’s courtroom, Building 2, Thurston County Courthouse, 2000 Lakeridge Drive S.W., Olympia