Nursing home notes 50 years of aiding elderly

In the case of Mount Loretto Nursing Home, that "stuff" was 126 acres of land located between two farms in rural Amsterdam. Fifty years ago, the order purchased the Montgomery County Sanitorium there and made it into Mount Loretto Convalescent and Rest Home.

Celebrating its golden anniversary this month, Mount Loretto has seen many changes in its five decades of service.

Changes over time

Back in 1949, she said, the home accepted ambulatory patients recovering from surgery or those who were retired, sick or just in need of a rest. Many patients came from a rest home in Castleton, and the Resurrection sisters did both the hands-on work of nursing and administered the home. A sister ran every department, from social work to the laundry.

BY the 1960s, Mount Loretto was having trouble getting lay employees. Help came from the Rome State School: Almost two dozen young women with developmental disabilities came to live in a building on the home's campus and work in the home itself.

Nicknamed the "Bethany girls," the women learned not only to do physical care, but also to cook, care for themselves and handle their money. They called their supervisor, Sister Damien, "Mother D." Several of the women live and work at Mount Loretto to this day.

Lean time

Sister Patricia, Mount Loretto's current administrator, believes that the fact the home survived is a testament that God meant for the sisters' ministry there to continue. With downsizing and a different management style, Mount Loretto made a comeback.

In 1992, the home faced another challenge: The original Mount Loretto building had become further and further out of compliance with health laws over the years, with bathrooms and hallways too small for its use as a nursing home. Finally, the Department of Health refused to give the home another waiver, directing it to "close or rebuild."

"We weren't too sure we would get enough money to rebuild," Sister Patricia remembered. "But we approached our province, and they said our mission was strong enough that we should build. We did heavy fundraising and raised $847,000!"

The new Mount Loretto Nursing Home opened in 1992. With the new building came new success; the home now operates at capacity, with 120 patients and about 157 full-time employees.

Family feeling

Half a dozen Resurrection Sisters still serve at Mount Loretto, from "sister-visitor" Sister Edythe Palace, who gloats at age 85 that "I love my job," to activities coordinator Sister Theresia Witkowski, who declared herself "lucky they had an opening" for her at the home.

Sister Mary Lucille Borowski is chaplain at Mount Loretto -- a challenge, since the average patient once lived at the home for 25 years and now lasts a year or two. Residents arrive more elderly and ill than ever, some with tracheotomies or terminal diseases like cancer.

"It's hard on the families when a resident passes away. It's hard on the staff, too," she said. After a resident dies, "we have an angel -- the angel of peace -- we hang on the door, and we put a sympathy card in the room. When a resident is ill, the nursing staff lets us know, and we try to be with them. Even after work hours, they will call us."

Friendly confines

"I love everything -- the nurses, everybody, all the nuns," Ms. Rabacoukas told The Evangelist. "I go to all the activities. If I could dance, I'd be excellent!"

While Mount Loretto's actual anniversary is Dec. 16, its major celebration and Mass with Bishop Howard J. Hubbard was held in October. However, Sister Patricia said the home "always parties," so more celebrations are ahead.

"There's so much talk nowadays about going out and serving the poor," Sister Mary Lucille told The Evangelist. "We don't have to go to the foreign missions; we have the poor right here."

As for the future and the "graying" of the sisters who work at Mount Loretto, Sister Patricia shrugged off any worries. The future, she said, means "working longer, working harder."

(12-16-99) [[In-content Ad]]