Further Details Regarding Nursing Home Closing

NEW BEDFORD — Further details are being provided on the shutdown of the Royal Taber Street Nursing Home in New Bedford.

The Royal Taber Street Nursing Home, located at 19 Taber Street, will be closing its doors and ceasing all operations by November 30th.

“We found out last Monday, unfortunately, that Royal Taber is going to be closing. We're surveyed by the Department of Public Health on our Life Safety regulations and at this time, due to the age of the building and the stuff that would have to be done, the owners of the company decided they are not going to proceed with the changes and the facility will be closed,“said Administrator Christine Stewart.

WBSM broke the news of the closure on Friday.

Administrator Christine Stewart told WBSM News the building can no longer keep up.

“For example, our front stairwell is considered an open-shaft, therefore we would have to change the whole structure of the front of the building where the stairwell is because we couldn't prevent the fire from going up the stairs. There are some vent issues, the size of the hallways. That's just a basic idea of what we're looking at.”

Royal Tabor Street Nursing Home is one of many nursing homes in the Southcoast area to announce that they are going to be closing within the last few months. This has many concerned about where the residents of the facility will go.

With the closing not happening until the end of the year, Stewart says this gives the facility ample time to prepare.

We've reached out to all the family members of all the residents, we've had staff meetings. We're assisting the residents now in finding facilities within the area or facilities of their choice to transfer them to. It's not because the facility was underperforming. We're a five-star facility. We're just not able to do the physical changes to the building to remain open," said Stewart.