Following the announcement earlier this week that Heritage Ministries’ Gerry facility, Heritage Village, will be closing, CEO Lisa Haglund, said no other local facilities are expected to close in the near future, and that closing this specific facility is part of ensuring that.

Both Heritage Park and Heritage Green currently sit at 80% full residents wise. Heritage Village is home to only 29 residents, one of the many things Haglund cited as part of the decision to close the facility, along with ongoing staffing problems that have been going on for a few years now.

“In our rural community in Chautauqua County the aging population is expected to increase by 10% over the next four years, while the workforce is expected to continue to decrease,” Haglund said. “Closing this facility allows us to focus on ensuring our other two buildings will remain open and continue functioning with staff, capital improvements, and residents.”

State mandates are another big factor into this decision, Haglund said. Specifically, in the last four years there has been an 80% increase in regulatory reforms and costs that come with those regulations.

“In many cases the regulations are well intentioned and meant to support us and our residents, and we support the outcomes such as residential safety, but they are trying to regulate us into success,” Haglund said. “You cannot regulate something into success, you need to invest, equip and educate something into reform.”

On the local level Haglund said it is not expected that any other locations will close, as Heritage is now focusing all of their efforts into their Chautauqua County facilities. Heritage has five locations overall between their skilled assisted living and individual living facilities, and Hagund said they will keep those remaining open and functioning as they have for over 140 years.

Haglund has also made note of the frustrations and comments coming from the announcement of Heritage Village’s closure, and said instead of making comments on social media there are ways to go about a situation like this to help.

“Instead of commenting on social media or just throwing your hands up in frustration, there are ways we can all help our seniors,” Haglund said. “You can advocate, write letters, volunteer your time. This is a time for the community to come together and support our residents and staff, and to help Village residents and staff make this transition. It’s important for people to know that this decision was made to help save the entire organization.”