Years ago they were called “old folks home,” and more recently, “nursing homes.”
The administrators of Citizens Care & Rehabilitation Center in Havre de Grace prefer the term “long-term health care facility.”
Whatever you call them, Citizens Care is Harford County?s oldest facility and one of only five similar facilities in the county that is run on a nonprofit basis.
“Everything that we bring in goes back into the facility,” said Citizens Care administrator Pete Panos.
A 184-bed facility, Citizens specializes in providing short-term rehabilitation and long-term hospice care for those in need.
“The majority of our residents stay for about 20 days and then return home,” Panos said.
At the time that Panos and Howes sat down with The Examiner, there were approximately 170 patients calling Citizens home.
Even former Citizens Board of Director and Havre de Grace Mayor Phil Barker, called the Market Street facility home for nine days.
“I had open heart surgery in 2003, and when they told me I would need rehabilitation, I told them I was coming here,” said Barker, who is now the director of development for Citizens.
For 78-year-old Bonnie Lescure, Citizens is home.
“I like it just fine. I call it the hotel,” Lescure said, laughingly.
“I have been here 21 years, and the residents come first. Allthe money we get goes to make their lives more pleasant,” said Citizens activities director Jocelyn Merkle.
Aberdeen resident Joyce Cather said after touring all nursing-home facilities in the county, she chose Citizens because it seemed the staff “cares.”
“I can?t say there is anything wrong with the others, but I felt Citizens was the best suited for mom,” Cather said of her 78-year-old mother, Eula Dalton, who suffers from Alzheimer?s, dementia and osteoporosis. “If I can?t do it at home, [Citizens] is the best place for her.”
