South Dennis HealthCare

South Dennis HealthCare, once known as Eagle Pond Rehabilitation and Living Center, used to be a licensed nursing home in South Dennis, Massachusetts, and folks remember it had 128 beds with about 42 open in early 2024, where they looked after people who needed medical care and help with everyday things after an illness or surgery, and while they've handled skilled nursing and long-term care, families would talk to staff in resident and family councils to sort out problems and try to improve daily life because the place had its share of serious care concerns that led to more frequent checks from inspectors and even penalties, and as part of a bigger Continuing Care Retirement Community, residents could move between care levels as their needs changed, so you had folks using Medicare and Medicaid in a building with multilingual, mainly English-speaking staff, plus a 24-hour call system, and things to do like arts, games, a library, fitness room, gardens, walking paths, scheduled events, movies, and music, but also the tough jobs like medicine help, bathing, dressing, transfers, Alzheimer's care in Tupper ward, and all sorts of supervision, and even though Next Step Healthcare ran it for a while, the place eventually changed hands and shut down, and now the spot at 1 Love Lane has seen big changes since the Housing Assistance Corporation bought it, packing up boxes and turning the nursing home into stable family housing with studios and two-bedroom rentals, focusing on helping families struggling with housing on Cape Cod, doing interior renovations, setting up a professional kitchen and all-day support, and bringing in programs for education, job training, and money management so families could hopefully move from shelter to regular homes, and with all this, they've aimed to fill a gap left by closing old shelters like Angel House, the Village at Cataumet, and Carriage House, really trying to offer stable places for families while keeping some of that supportive community feel, and in the end, the old South Dennis HealthCare building has found a new purpose, although you still hear some talk about the nursing care and the people who worked there, but now it's about families getting a place of their own and a chance at something steadier.