Faced with steep financial losses and the threat of closure at Windemere, the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital has made an offer on a 26-acre property in Edgartown for a new senior living community.

As models for elderly care undergo rapid change both around the country and on Martha’s Vineyard, the Island’s only nursing home is facing challenges.

As the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital takes steps to convert vacant units at Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation into business and physician office space, a wider discussion has begun to unfold.

With the Wildflower Court wing of Windemere slated to close, Islanders expressed concern for current residents and the Island's elderly in general.

Citing low occupancy and financial losses, trustees at the Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center announced Wednesday that the independent living facility at the Island’s only nursing home will close.

The auction held on Friday, June 6, in support of the Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center’s recreation department raised over $24,500.

A prize-winning pig named Wendy, along with a sheep named Ida from the Farm Institute in Katama and a litter of newly born kittens add up to a fun visit for Windemere residents.

Thanks to funding from Partners HealthCare and Massachusetts General Hospital, Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center will be getting $3 million for exterior building renovations.
“We’re very excited,” Windemere administrator Ken Chisholm said Thursday. “We have a lot of needs on the outside of Windemere.”
Through a $2 million grant from Massachusetts General Hospital and a $1 million grant from Partners, the facility’s exterior will see a complete overhaul: all windows, siding, outside doors and decking will be replaced, Mr. Chisholm said.

He has been on the job two months now, and no one calls him Mr.
Dresser anymore.

Hospital leaders gave themselves a checkup this week, and while no crisis was detected, there was a prescription - for more work.