Answers sought over 'heartbreaking' Callan care home closure

A County Kilkenny nursing home slated for closure in the coming weeks has become the focus of a groundswell of community support to stay open.

Since the news emerged, last week, that the Aperee Living nursing home in Callan is to move all residents to other facilities there has been shock in the town and among staff of the home.

Last Friday, staff gathered at the gates of the home, formerly known as Strathmore Lodge, in a protest aimed at seeking answers on several issues from the current HSE management and from directors of Aperee Living. A community petition has also been started, calling for the facility to stay open, for the sake of the residents. (You can find the petition here: https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/don-t-close-apperee-living-in-callan-co-kilkenny-aka-strathmore-lodge )

At Friday’s protest, staff of the Aperee Living nursing home said they are looking for answers from the directors of Aperee Living and the HSE, who stepped in to manage the home last November.

They said staff members are unhappy with the lack of information currently available to them concerning possible redundancy payments and are also calling for all efforts to be made to keep the home open and residents in Callan.

A statement from the HSE, last Tuesday, said the 40-plus residents were being moved because it is ‘at a point where we can no longer safely provide care to residents in this facility’. Staff have asked the HSE to clarify this as they say the word ‘unsafe’ reflects badly on them. It has ‘not gone down well with the community or staff’ one staff member said.

Necessary fire safety works, as required by HIQA, are ‘70% complete’ according to staff and the final phase was due to start on the day of the protest.

Family members of the residents have also expressed their unhappiness.
“Our family found out through social media about the closure of the nursing home. A letter telling of the closure was left on a table in the bedroom of my elderly father who has dementia,” one woman told the Kilkenny People.
She described the ordeal as ‘showing zero respect for their staff, their patients and their families’.

Members of the wider Callan community, along with former staff of the home and family members of residents, joined with the staff in a show of support on Friday morning. One former staff member, who had worked there for nine years, said it was ‘heartbreaking’.

The Kilkenny People has seen a letter from Aperee Living director Paul Kingston to the staff, sent last January, in which it says: “Our intention is to keep Aperee Living Callan open into the future and remain part of the Callan community.”
Staff from the nursing home hope to meet with Mr Kingston next week.
Residents of the nursing home will begin moving to other care facilities this week.