In Support Of The New Our Island Home

To the editor: Will it happen to you or your family? What will you do if your spouse, or other loved one - mother, father or friend - needs long-term care due to complex health issues such as stroke, cardiac disease, or other serious medical conditions? Do you want to go off island just to visit those you care about? The time and travel expenses alone can be significant. Or worse yet, as a patient yourself, can you imagine having no choice but to go off island for either short-term nursing and rehabilitation or for long-term care needs?

Residents of Our Island Home are able to be close to family, enjoy excellent food, participate in daily entertainment and activities, have access to van service, and receive skilled care provided by licensed nursing and rehabilitation specialists.

Unfortunately, the operating systems (electrical, water, cable, and HVAC) in the current building are ancient, making it difficult to provide for basic needs such as constant water temperature so that showers don’t turn cold at any minute or providing adequate in-room lighting. Common areas, which are used to accommodate multiple activities at the same time, are too small, making these spaces overcrowded and difficult to navigate. The physical rehabilitation area is not equipped with the modern technology needed to help patients recover from an injury or improve their quality of life. Nantucket – and maybe soon you or your loved one – needs a new Our Island Home.

Understandably, Nantucket taxpayers are concerned about the cost of the new Our Island Home. But think of it this way: if your loved one has no choice but to go to an off-island nursing home, just one trip each year to visit them would likely cost you more than what the projected change in taxes will be.

Please, vote “yes” on Article 13 and support the new Our Island Home!

Pat Newton
Our Island Home resident