This story will be updated.
The Presque Isle Rehab and Nursing Center will close at the end of June, its manager confirmed.
A letter went out to its 120 employees and to the families of its 49 residents Thursday morning, said Phil Cyr, who also manages the Caribou Rehab and Nursing facility. The Caribou operation will stay open.
The Presque Isle center is the latest in a string of closures around Maine that have left families scrambling for alternative placements for loved ones, and employees searching for new jobs. It will leave empty a facility that has served Aroostook County for 48 years. Two major factors prompted the decision: inadequate state funding and lack of qualified staff that started when COVID-19 struck, Cyr said.
“COVID hit in 2020. We had about a third of our nursing staff resign immediately. We have never been able to recover from the exodus of staff,” Cyr said. “We’re at the point where we need to lose one, or face the reality of having to close both.”
The facility is targeted for closure on June 30, but that depends on whether its residents have all been placed.
Cyr said the home will continue to operate until all patients have successfully found other residences.
The site is also home to assisted living facilities Leisure Village and Leisure Gardens. Those will not be affected by the nursing and rehab center’s closure, Cyr said, and will continue to operate as usual.
