Massachusetts: Boston nursing home prepares to shut down
The Edgar P. Benjamin Healthcare Center, a Boston home to roughly 70 Black and Latino seniors, is on the verge of shutting down, which would make it the nineteenth nursing home in Massachusetts to close voluntarily since 2021.
Residents, family members, and employees are worried a July 1 closure is a foregone conclusion – but are still fighting to delay the shutdown to give residents more time to find new placements (they say nearby nursing homes have months-long or years-long waits amid capacity challenges). The organization Lawyers for Civil Right filed a lawsuit on Thursday alleging the facility has been mismanaged and calling for a judge to order a receivership, where the state would bring in a new operator.
“We’re concerned that our residents’ needs won’t be met if additional facilities close,” said Emily Shea, a commissioner of Boston’s Age Strong Commission, at a hearing on the Benjamin last week before the Department of Public Health, which has until April 9 to rule on the nursing home’s closure plan.
Read the full article from the CommonWealth Beacon here.
