Deer Isle Nursing Home Will Sadly Shut Its Doors After 40 Years

It's always a love/hate relationship.

Years ago, when I was still working in kitchens full-time, I worked in a few nursing homes. I had wildly varying experiences in each place. And as you'd expect, it was kind of a divisive opinion among residents whether or not they wanted to be there. Some folks loved it, other folks saw it as the worst thing that happened to them.

A lot of residents liked the communal atmosphere. And really, it was always just the same with folks who worked there. I once worked at a non-profit home, and it was amazing. My experience in the for-profit nursing home scene was awful. So sometimes, it can be hard to keep employees.

Island Nursing Home has been around for 40 years. What happened?

You might think the name of this place sounds familiar. Just last week, I wrote about how residents there had a "senior prom". It seemed like such a great thing to do for the residents, and reportedly, many of them loved it. But their love may turn sour as they're forced to find new places to live.

According to WABI, Island Nursing Home will close its doors on October 26th, for good. They cite not just current pandemic issues, but a pretty long backstory of the lack of affordable housing in the area, the crazy Maine winters, and the shrinking healthcare workforce. Not to mention current pandemic-related staffing issues faced by many.

So what's next?

From now until their closing date, the main focus is to re-locate all their current residents and to see if they can assist their current staff in finding new jobs. But the end of October will be here before you know it, I imagine there will be a lot of great stories, and sad faces when that time comes.