Support Our Island Home

To the editor: I am a founder of Friends of Our Island Home, an organization dedicated to enriching the lives of the residents of Our Island Home (OIH), Nantucket's skilled nursing facility (SNF) OIH provides residential care for those who can no longer be cared for at home, along with rehab services for those transitioning back to home from in-patient hospital care. Since 2013, our board has been present both in the current OIH facility and as representatives on the many workgroups the town has established to evaluate the needs of this fragile and underrepresented population. We are diligently working to promote truths and combat misinformation as to how the town has arrived at a $100M new Our Island Home.

Before asking for your support, I would like to address a few common misunderstandings. The site at Sherburne Commons (SC) is owned by the town, and the land lease agreement with SC guarantees the construction of a SFN on the property. The location near South Shore Road was necessitated due to the difficulty and expense of accessing buildable land from Miacomet Ave., identified Indian Burial Grounds and push-back from Sherburne Commons with traffic driving through their campus. The current site was further compromised by having to design the building around a sewer main traversing the property. Current SC employee housing also exists in the building envelope, requiring the town to recreate that housing as part of the overall cost for the project.

The Department of Public Health (DPH) has quantifiers for minimum square footage for residential rooms, clinical space and many other building specific requirements. The proposed design and ground cover is not a grandiose interpretation of those requirements. Built into the design is a way to increase beds without adding on, with proper approval by the DPH. The design and cost also includes solar and geothermal solutions for energy savings.

Friends of Our Island Home believe that a new Our Island Home is essential to the public health of our community. The loss of a SFN would be a marker of the lack of care we offer to island residents when they no longer can be cared for at home. Those same people who have contributed to the way of life that has made Nantucket such a special community. FoOIH is working with the Community Foundation for Nantucket to identify and encourage philanthropists who believe in the need to care for frail elders and their families on Nantucket to pledge support for this project. There is a way for private partnerships to help defray the cost to taxpayers.

For a home appraised at $2,058,091 and which qualifies for the residential exemption, the annual property tax will increase by $281 for 25 years. Think of it like an insurance premium. You may need skilled nursing care after a hip replacement, stroke or other unexpected health challenge. Or your parent, spouse, neighbor or friend, who can no longer be safely cared for in their home, requires residential care.

At that time, you will be thankful that there is a place for that compassionate care to be provided here 30 miles at sea. There is no do-over option - this is a project at least 10 years in the making. Please support a new Our Island Home.

Sincerely,

Alison K. Forsgren