Even for one of the wealthiest municipalities in the U.S., operating a nursing home is a strain, Bloomberg News reported. Greenwich, Conn., owns a 121-year-old nursing home. That makes it unusual, since only 5% of nursing homes are government-owned. The town is atypical in other ways. With one of the highest per-capita incomes in the country, it has long been a locus of wealth and celebrity, evident in services such as three marinas and a public golf course designed by architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. Its Nathaniel Witherell nursing home, however, like many such facilities across the country, is losing money. Founded as a contagious-disease hospital in 1903, the 202-bed nonprofit facility offers short-term rehabilitation as well as long-term and memory care. Situated on what the town describes as 24 rolling acres — two miles from downtown — it touts staff turnover that’s a fraction of the national rate. Its kitchen gets its produce from the facility’s culinary wellness garden that was built in 2017 with donor and volunteer contributions. But Greenwich had to write off $4.1 million in bad debt from the nursing home last year, according to documents for an upcoming $115 million bond and note offering. It still expects to continue funding the nursing home’s operating losses in subsequent general fund operating budgets. The town reported a general-fund balance of $71.8 million in the current fiscal year.
