Island Nursing Home hopes to re-open with some changes
DEER ISLE– A residential home in Hancock County is making plans to reopen after closing over a year ago. The problem now, a nursing shortage.
Back in October of 2021 Island Nursing home in Deer Isle closed its doors and relocated more than fifty residents because the home couldn’t find enough qualified nurses during the pandemic.
Now, they are trying to reopen in the summer of 2023 and are still facing the same problem.
“We know that in Ellsworth in one of the facilities there, there is a waiting list of eighty people to get in residential care. That’s the type of- we’re really in a crisis situation in maine regarding health care,” Skip Greenlaw, Board of Directors, Treasurer.
Greenlaw says that due to the nursing crisis the home had to make some changes to their model before they could even think about opening their doors.
Some of those changes included reducing the number of residents in the home and switching it from a nursing care facility to a residential care one.
“Well I‘ll tell ya, it was a painful decision to have to make and the community, on the island anyway, was very much opposed to us selling the bed rights because they know that there is a need for skilled nursing care.”
Despite the challenges the home’s board of directors is still optimistic that they will be able welcome residents by July 2023.
“I hope that we’ll send the application in on January sixth and we expect to hear back quite quickly. They will give us some deadlines in terms of hiring administration and hiring staff. Our goal is to open July first. If things come together it may be that we can open sooner.”
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