Joan Whiting to close in November: residents and staff “very vulnerable”
The Joan Whiting Rest Home will close on 30 November after a long and painful struggle for financial survival.
“It’s heartbreaking but we’ve run out of options”, said Christopher Mitson, chairperson of the board. “We had hoped to survive until integration provided a new facility in Takaka but it’s now very clear that cannot happen.”
The vote to close was unanimous after final attempts to secure new financial assistance failed. The rest home had been running at 100 per cent occupancy for more than a year but recently falling rolls meant reduced income, and financial projections made it clear the rest home could not stay open.
“We tried for bridging finance to carry us through to integration but that did not succeed. We cannot fulfill our legal and moral obligations by draining the Joan Whiting down to the last dollar when we know we cannot possibly survive long enough for a smooth transition to integration. We have a duty to facilitate an orderly and dignified close-down process rather than run things so close to the wire that we have a cruel and hurried crash. That’s why we’ve put aside money to ensure our wonderful staff receive all the wages and holiday pay due to them. We’re also setting aside money to make sure that the sale process will not be a fire sale – we have enough to maintain the property and safeguard the asset to provide funds for elder care in the new integrated facility when that opens.”
“Clinging on by our fingertips has been a very painful process for everybody involved,” explained Mr Mitson. “We now have certainty about the future, even though it’s not the future everyone worked so hard for. The trustees will remain in office to ensure the best outcomes every step of the way. Our annual general meeting will take place on16 September and we welcome that opportunity to explain what we are doing, both during and after the close-down process.
The board extended sympathy to the residents, their families, nurse manager Jan Dahl and the staff who’ve made the Joan Whiting such a wonderful home. “And we want to thank people in our community for all their help and support.”
The closure means that alternative accommodation must be found for the residents of Joan Whiting.
“That means it’s almost inevitable they’ll have to go to rest-homes over the Hill in Motueka or Nelson. It’s really sad because that’s exactly what we’ve been fighting so hard to avoid.”
Joan Whiting’s nurse manager Jan Dahl said that that everyone was “gutted”.
“Our residents are feeling very vulnerable, of course, and so are the staff. We’re just trying to stay on top of things as best we can for everyone’s sake.”
While the closure could not be described as a total surprise, Ms Dahl said that there had been “a bit of an assumption” that Joan Whiting would stay open until the integrated health facility was finished.
In paying tribute to the community’s support, Ms Dahl said that the “magnificent” efforts at the recent garage sale had postponed the closure of the home.
Green Party health spokesperson Kevin Hague described the closure as “totally unacceptable”.
“Vulnerable elderly people will be shifted out of and away from their community for up to two years,” he said. “Tony Ryall needs to take urgent action to make bridging finance available to enable these residents to stay in the Joan Whiting home until the new facility is built. This is what compassion and humanity requires. These older people should not have to bear the brunt of inadequate future planning. By my reckoning it should cost less than the $1.6billion the Government shelled out this week to prop up South Canterbury Finance.”
Nelson Marlborough DHB CEO John Peters thanked the Joan Whiting Trust for the work they have done to keep the rest-home operating.
“We understand the difficult position that trustees were in and, while sharing the strong sense of sadness, we fully respect the decision they have come to,” said Mr Peters. “Over the past couple of years the DHB and the trust have worked to keep Joan Whiting going, with integration the aim for both. The DHB provided a temporary subsidy and the trust has done their part. Joan Whiting cannot operate without additional funding and the DHB is not able to provide a subsidy above the government-designated rate. There will be a gap in which residents of the rest-home will have to be relocated over the Hill before the planned construction of rest-home beds in the Bay come on line as part of the new integrated health facility. The DHB will work with residents, families, and trustees during the transition period.”
Passionate Joan Whiting supporter Liza Eastman is suffering a double sense of loss. Her beloved nanny died at the Joan Whiting home last week and now the home is to close.
“It’s the government’s fault,” says Liza. “Because of their policies, people are more needy by the time they come to the rest home and smaller places like Joan Whiting cannot survive on the subsidy the government pays. In some ways the closure is a godsend. The trust must do what it must do but those of us on the outside can do whatever the hell we like - scream and yell at the politicians for example. The people of Golden Bay have to become a squeaky wheel and kick up a fuss. I think that it’s really wrong for the government to allow a not-for-profit community-run rest home to fail.”
Neil Wilson
