Suzette Linich says her mom, Audrey, was able to come home after she spent three months at the Thompson House Residential and Rehabilitative Care Facility.
“When I talked to her on the phone, she just sounded totally different, and I'm happy. She had it great," she said. "She lucked out and had a great roommate, and they're still friends now.”
After the homecoming, her mom was doing well until a few weeks ago, when she broke a bone in her arm. Suzette Linich said she was looking to take her mother back to Thompson, but was upset to hear the facility was closing.
What You Need To Know
- Residents in northern Dutchess County are concerned about the Thompson House Residential and Rehabilitative Care Facility closing
- A statement from Nuvance health, which runs the Thompson house, says it will work with the state Department of Health to safely relocate residents of this facility to other ones
- The entire staff of 102 workers will be laid off
“It kind of just seems like, how how does this happen so quickly with a place that's been around for that long?” Linich said.
Closures have been a troubling trend among nursing homes across New York state.
According to a report from The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, more than 1,000 nursing homes have closed since 2015 across the nation. Workforce levels are at their lowest since 1994, and 55% of nursing home providers say they are operating at a loss.
The numbers are part of the reason state lawmakers are pushing to include a 20% Medicaid reimbursement rate in their state budget proposal.
Nina Lynch, president of senior advocacy group Rhinebeck at Home, said seniors are being forced to move further away from their families, and it's creating more hardship.
“The fact of having to be in a long-term care facility is pretty disruptive," she said. "Very hard for families, hard for the individual.”
Lynch also says she hopes this facility’s closure brings more attention to a growing problem that isn’t going to be solved with complacency.
“Transportation that's accessible, that's reliable, that's affordable," she said. "Certainly, we need care workers, all the things that build community.”
Suzette Linich said she’s moved her mom to a facility close to home. But she’ll miss how hard the Thompson staff worked to make sure her mom’s needs were taken care of.
“I did make a Facebook post about this and, you know, definitely people were as shocked as I was and felt kind of devastated," Linich said. "How could you, how could you take this?"