The last residents move out of Northern Star

Dec. 5—TRAVERSE CITY — From behind his Detroit Red Wings mask, Josh Murphy angled his power wheelchair toward the floor-to-ceiling windows at Northern Star Assisted Living, watching Eighth Street traffic whiz past.

"I have two friends that I lost," he said. "John and Dottie. We used to sit together at this table but they're moving somewhere else."

On Wednesday, Murphy, 40, was one of two residents remaining at the facility, which officials said was closing Dec. 1 because of industry-wide staffing issues.

Upstairs in room 226, Murphy's mother and stepfather, who live in Caledonia, packed his things.

That morning, a room opened up at a local adult foster care home.

"We were waiting for a person who was in a coma to pass — can you imagine what it feels like to pray for someone to die?" says Teresa Fitzgerald, choking back tears.

Murphy's health needs are too complex for him to be cared for at home, Fitzgerald said.

Cerebral palsy and Sotos syndrome, a rare genetic disease, require his use of a wheelchair. Murphy is also being treated for a heart condition and he takes medication to address recent seizures, Fitzgerald said.

When he was younger, Murphy was a staple at local nonprofits — "Everyone knew Josh," Fitzgerald said, of her son. He volunteered with Father Fred, the State Theatre and the Old Town Playhouse, for example.

When Murphy was 8 years old, he appeared on a March of Dimes poster, Fitzgerald said.

Then after a series of unimaginable tragedies — Murphy was assaulted at a Grand Rapids assisted living facility and later hit by a car while trying to cross a busy thoroughfare — a few months of rehab turned into four years in a nursing home.

While there, Fitzgerald said Murphy was fed a high calorie diet, allowed easy access to junk food and given treats by elderly residents which worsened his heart condition.

"Until we got him in at the AFC, our only option was to put him back into a nursing home," Fitzgerald said. "Which for Josh isn't an option at all."

The U.S.'s growing population of the elderly and the vulnerable, juxtaposed with a continuing drop in the number of facilities and staff to care for them, was a slow-motion disaster that only picked up speed during the pandemic, experts say.

Figures compiled by Leading Age show more than 550 U.S. nursing homes closed between 2015 and 2019.

Today, administrators in more than 75 percent of long-term care facilities say they are concerned the pandemic could force closure, according to September survey by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living.

The study also found 60 percent of facility administrators said they were limiting new admissions because of staffing shortages.

In Michigan, too, closures are mounting, according to data from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

For example, last summer, Sanctuary at the Park, a 99-bed nursing home, closed, citing pandemic-related costs.

Graceway at Countryside, a nursing home in South Haven, closed in May, citing pandemic losses and staffing shortages.

Also in May, LARA shut down Heather Pines, a Clarkston facility, when staffing shortages left residents without proper care.

Then William Crispe Community House, a small facility in Plainwell, closed in June, and again, officials there cited staffing shortages.

Ron Clous, a real estate developer and vice chair of the Grand Traverse County Commission, is a silent partner with his brother, Bill Clous, in Northern Star. He previously confirmed staffing issues forced the closure.

Wendy Fortin, who for the past four years has worked in the kitchen and helped deliver meals to residents' rooms, confirmed that on Wednesday.

"They offered sign-on bonuses, they gave us incentives just to stay but they couldn't find enough people," Fortin said. "I love this job. I was devastated when I found out we were closing."

The U.S. average pay for direct care workers is $16.79 an hour, according to Payscale, a software company that collects wage data.

A search on the job site Zip Recruiter returned more than 50 open positions in Traverse City for a certified nurse assistant, or CNA, with an hourly wage between $16 and $20.

Administrator Amber Phillips previously said she was told in late October by the facility's owners it was closing at the end of this month, and she immediately informed residents and their families.

It was easier to get area care facilities to come and interview staff, than it was to find open beds for residents, she said.

Northern Star staff, families of the 46 residents as well as Medicaid and senior housing advisors all worked the phones to find new placements, Phillips said.

Late Wednesday morning, Fortin stood in the dining room next to Josh, cocked her head to the side and gave him a small smile. "We're like a big family, huh Josh?"

"Yeah," Murphy said, watching out the window as his mother and stepfather loaded his belongings into the back of a trailer. "But now it won't be the same."

Murphy then wheeled his chair away from the windows, out of the dining room and toward an empty hallway.

Later that day, he moved into an adult foster care home a few miles away.

"I'm trying to keep it in, keep it together," Fortin said. "I had planned on retiring from here. I wanted to stay right to the end."