FRENCHVILLE, Maine — A 43-bed St. John Valley long-term care facility is reopening with new owners and a new mission next month.
St. Joseph Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Frenchville is converting to a “memory center” specializing in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia patients as of Nov. 10 after 48 years as a skilled nursing nursing facility, according to Chad Cloutier, spokesman for Davis Long Term Care Group, former owners of the facility.
What will be the St. Joseph Memory Center on U.S. Route 1 soon will be owned by Jim Roy, Jacqueline Roy, J.J. Roy and Josh Roy, family members who also own and operate Ridgewood Estates in Madawaska and Crosswinds Residential Care in Fort Kent.
“We operate the two residential care facilities and always felt there was a need for special dementia care in the St. John Valley,” J.J. Roy said this week. “When the opportunity came up to look at St. Joe’s as a memory care facility, we felt we knew enough about what is needed. It’s something we are passionate about, and that triggered our decision to purchase it.”
Roy would not comment on the purchase price but confirmed the sale was scheduled to be finalized Nov. 10.
In the meantime, he said, they will be working to make sure the residential needs of current St. Joseph Nursing Home residents are met.
“Part of the phase out process of the current nursing home is to find suitable placement for residents who need to remain at the nursing home level of care,” Roy said. “However, there is a good amount of folks that will be able to stay in place and benefit from the new licence as a memory center.”
The number of beds at the new memory center will be 31, according to Roy, who said a majority of the current residents will qualify to remain after the transition from a nursing home is completed, though he did not have exact numbers.
Roy also anticipates 45 to 50 of the current 55 to 60 employees at the facility will remain.
Cloutier said changes in Medicare reimbursement rates and an increase in available skilled nursing and private bed facilities in the region all led to a loss of revenue for St. Joseph and made its operation no longer economically viable.
“Despite the reality of the numbers, this was a very difficult decision because we know our facility has been home for our residents and provided jobs to our dedicated employees,” he said. “Each year St. Joseph has worked diligently to navigate the changing landscape, and too often we fell short financially, despite our best efforts.”
At the same time, there has been an increase in the need for long-term residential care for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease patients in the area.
“The demand for a memory center is there,” according to Brenda Gallant, executive director of the Maine Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. “Their assessment is this type of care is needed in that part of the state, and we have seen it is really a need statewide.”
Gallant said she will work with the residents and family members who do need to look for alternate residential care.
“The facility has been very thoughtful in terms of their residents and thinking about their needs to keep as many people as possible so they don’t have to move,” she said. “Whenever you have any type of change in a facility like this, the ombudsman’s job is to make sure the residents have a voice and that the families are involved.”
“There is great long-term care available up here,” Roy said. “You can’t beat the care, and you can’t ask for a better group of people than the ones at St. Joseph.”
