A longtime Blue Hill adult day care center is on track to keep its facility open after the collapse of its previous operator threatened operations.
Friendship Cottage, which opened in 2008, is the last place offering skilled nursing services in Hancock County. It provides care on weekdays for adults with physical, cognitive or memory challenges.
Its building is owned by Downeast Community Partners, the regional community action agency that turned over services to its Aroostook County counterpart due to operating problems last year. Volunteers have been fundraising to buy the building back as it operates under a new three-county agency formed to replace it.
Community Action in Aroostook, Washington and Hancock Counties, that new agency, has reached a $600,000 purchase and sale agreement for the property, it announced Tuesday.
It still needs to raise more funds and increase enrollment to stay sustainable, but the agreement is a step toward preserving services its leaders say have become more crucial as other resources for aging people in the region shutter.
More people are keeping their loved ones at home for longer and the program is seeing participants that need more care within the last five years as area nursing homes have closed, Aging Services Program Coordinator Anne Ossanna said.
The sale agreement with the Downeast Community Partners board and the receiver still needs to be approved by receivership court, according to the three-county agency. A sale would be finalized within 60 days of that decision.
More than $500,000 was raised in two months to buy it, the organization said, with key support from volunteer group Friends of Friendship Cottage. Another $150,000 is needed for the sale and repairs that include a roof replacement and addressing water damage from ongoing leaks.
“We are incredibly grateful for the donors who have brought us this far,” Ossanna said, encouraging people to enroll in services. “But equally important is continued program participation.”
Friendship Cottage accepts MaineCare, contracts through the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Aging and Disability Services and SeniorsPlus, some long-term care insurance plans, and private payment, and offers a free trial day.
The program is open from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays, providing homemade meals, help with daily activities, social and cognitive programming and “compassionate support that prioritizes dignity and quality of life,” the agency said.
The building was first purchased with a similar fundraising effort; the new agency will own the building if this sale is successful, CEO Jason Parent previously said, with a covenant added to keep it available for services on the peninsula to avoid having to fundraise for the purpose in the future.
The 118 Ellsworth Road site was one of four owned by Downeast Community Partners that were hit with liens for more than $4 million from DHHS last year. The department indicated at the time that the agency hadn’t provided enough documentation that it was fulfilling state contracts.
The Hancock County liens were discharged between January and March, according to documents filed in the Hancock County Registry of Deeds.
Of its other locations, its Machias location was sold last year, its 248 Bucksport Road site remains for sale and its Avery Lane building now houses some programs of the new tri-county agency.
Downeast Community Partners had struggled financially for years, which past leadership attributed to staff turnover and previous accounting practices.
It joined with the Aroostook County agency in order to preserve its programs and services “in the face of significant financial and operational challenges currently facing DCP,” board members said at the time.
Community action agencies are regional organizations that offer social services and work to alleviate the effects of poverty, largely through federal block grant funding administered by state governments.
