The closing of a 55-year old nursing home in Maine is the latest in a disturbing trend of nursing home closures in the state and nationwide.
Presque Isle Rehab and Nursing Center in Presque Isle, ME, closed its doors for good on Thursday, according to Phil Cyr, whose family owned the nursing home for the past 48 years.
Cyr, who is president of Caribou Nursing Home Inc., which also operates Caribou Rehab and Nursing Center in Caribou, ME, said the decision to close the Presque facility was a very difficult one but one the organization had to make because of financial and staffing issues.
“The problem is, we didn’t have enough nursing staff to operate both buildings,” Cyr told McKnight’s Business Daily in a telephone interview. “We ultimately chose to close one facility to save the other.”
Cyr, who was a “Setting the Standard” award winner in the 2023 McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards, said that the Presque facility had been operating only at approximately 60% to 70% occupancy in recent years, whereas it needed to operate at about 90% occupancy to break even.
Cyr said there were several factors behind the closure but, ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to hire and keep enough staff members to operate the facility at full occupancy.
“I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was the loss of staff due to COVID,” he said. “I think when COVID hit, a lot of people choose to leave healthcare and find employment in a different field.”
The closure of the nursing home is the latest in a troubling trend of closures of nursing homes in Maine over the past two decades. In that time, the Pine Tree State has lost at least 25 long-term care facilities, including the Narraguagus Bay Health Care Facility, which announced its plans to close in May, according to The County newspapers.
The trend is evident at the national level as well. According to a report released last week by the American Health Care Association, at least 774 nursing homes have closed nationwide between February 2020 and July 2024, displacing 28,421 residents, and there are 62,567 fewer nursing home beds now than there were in 2020.
In addition to COVID, Cyr said, new federal and state staffing regulations as well as reimbursement rates that have not kept pace with the cost of care have made it difficult for many nursing homes to continue to operate.
“My position today is that no businessman in their right mind would want to get into the nursing home business.”
Phil Cyr, President, Caribou Nursing Home Inc.
“My position today is that no businessman in their right mind would want to get into the nursing home business,” he said. “The profit margin just isn’t there. Fifty years ago, it was a profitable business; today, it no longer is.”
Cyr, however, said that his family plans to continue to operate the Caribou facility, which has been in the family business for more than 50 years. He said about 30 of the residents from the Presque Isle facility have been relocated to the Caribou facility or other nearby nursing homes, and 17 staff members have been moved over to fill vacant positions at the Caribou facility.
