Renowned for its commitment to nursing home care in Athlone and the Midlands region, Stella Maris has announced its decision to cease operations.
Courtesy of a recent Facebook post, the family run nursing home, located on the Old Galway Road, Baylough, noted the immense disappointment with the decision taken citing “soaring costs” as the main reason for closing the business.
Under the guidance of the McNally family, Stella Maris Nursing Home has gleaned numerous awards for their community care ethos and informed their residents, their families and work colleagues of this “heartbreaking” decision in recent times.
“Today, through our tears we spoke with our residents, their families and our staff and informed them of our decision to close our doors. As a family, Stella Maris Nursing Home has been our lives for the past 35 years.
“We have treasured every moment with our residents and feel very privileged that we could provide care for so many within our community throughout our time here. We don’t have any regrets. We know we have done everything within our power to continue but it’s not to be. We’ve heavily invested in our gorgeous, quirky building through all of our years to make it work for us.
“Unfortunately, with soaring costs combined with fair deal refusing to negotiate adequate fee increases and HIQA’s unrealistic expectations for an old building, we have no choice. We do not want to close. This is what we do best. We couldn’t have done any of this without the dedication of our loyal staff, both past and present. Words will never be enough to thank them for their love and kindness they have shown our residents but also us as a family.
“They consistently show up and brighten up the lives of those they care for. We expect the next few weeks will be utterly heartbreaking, how could it not be. We are committed to finding new homes for all our residents and helping them transition before we finish up.
“Each and every person who has passed through our doors over these years has left a special imprint on our hearts that we will never forget, and we thank them for these memories,” the social media post, signed by the McNally family, stated.
