The closing of another nursing home in Maine could have been next in a disturbing trend — but this story has a silver lining: Residents are moving to a new facility thanks to careful planning by owners who envisioned and executed on a replacement.
MaineHealth announced that it would be closing its Saint Joseph Rehabilitation and Residence in Portland, ME, on Friday, Sept. 20. Residents, however, will be transferred to Fallbrook Commons, a new long-term care residential and rehabilitation facility operated through a partnership with North Country Associates.
The Saint Joseph building, which has operated since 1975 and was purchased by MaineHealth in 2017, had become outdated in terms of its design. The partnership with the new owners will continue to provide care to residents in a newer, more contemporary environment, according to Susan Keiler, vice president of outpatient ambulatory services for MaineHealth.
She said MaineHealth has worked closely with North Country Associates in the transition to the new facility, which is expected to retain the staff from St. Joseph’s.
Despite the financial challenges facing many long-term care operators, Keller said that the new owners, who specialize in skilled nursing, assisted living and other senior care services, are well positioned to succeed in the long-term care market.
“It is true that many post-acute care facilities are struggling both with reimbursement, and the difficulty in finding staff for this challenging but rewarding work,” Keller told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News in an email. “North Country Associates is well positioned for success, because post-acute care is what they do. They have the scale and the standard operating procedures to care for older adults in a high quality and efficient way.”
Saint Joseph’s traditionally had capacity for 121 beds. The new facility will have 102, which includes three distinct “neighborhoods” of 34 beds, one dedicated to nursing home level memory care, one designed for short-term skilled nursing care and the third for traditional long-term care nursing.
Keller said MaineHealth has partnered with North Country on other projects over the last several years, including the transition from the old Newton Center in Sanford, ME, to a new facility that was built on adjacent property.
“The partnerships have successfully introduced newer, more homelike environments to these residents, and brought the expertise of the staff that was already caring for them over to the new facilities,” she said. “We would call these transitions successful for all concerned.”
Despite the positive news with the opening of the new facility, the closure of the Saint Joseph building is the latest in a disturbing trend of nursing home closures across the state and nationwide.
More than 25 nursing homes have closed in Maine over the past two decades, most recently the Presque Isle Rehab and Nursing Center in Presque Isle, ME. Nationwide, more than 700 have closed since 2020, according to a late-August report from the American Health Care Association.
