Island Nursing Home leaders warn of major shortfalls, ask towns for help amid staffing and housing gaps

Representatives of the Island Nursing Home (INH) told the Stonington Selectmen the facility is facing sustained deficits and urgent staffing and housing pressures that threaten its ability to keep skilled nursing beds open.

Skip Greenlaw and Leon Weed, speaking for INH, told the board the facility has been operating with a large budget shortfall (discussed figures included a $500,000 deficit and later references to $700,000 as the amount needed to preserve beds). Greenlaw said the organization was seeking help from the member towns and exploring whether each town could contribute or otherwise support housing for essential staff.

"We petitioned them to open the facility," Leon Weed said when explaining why the community should consider supporting operations. Skip Greenlaw asked the towns to consider financial and housing assistance and said INH representatives would be willing to petition for a town meeting article if necessary.

Town Manager (TM) Billings told the board she had asked INH for detailed financials and that any formal funding request would need a petition or a properly warned town meeting item. "If they want town funds, it needs to be a formal warrant article," TM Billings said; the board emphasized it needed clearer, recent accounting before taking any appropriation question up for a vote.

Linda Nelson, who has participated in regional economic and health planning discussions, urged coordination across peninsular towns and noted that workforce housing and staffing shortages are widely shared across the region. Board members repeatedly pressed INH representatives for current financial statements and clarity about whether budget figures reflected 2019 levels or more recent inflation and cost pressures.

No motion to commit town funds was made during the meetings covered in the transcript. Selectmen suggested INH continue to provide financial documentation, and they discussed scheduling representatives for future meetings and the mechanics of placing a funding request before voters.

Next steps: INH representatives said they will try to supply more transparent, current fiscal information and, if necessary, pursue a petition to put a funding article on a future town meeting warrant. The selectmen did not authorize any immediate transfer of funds during the sessions covered.