Shepherding in new opportunities for long-term care for island elders, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held April 11 at 1:30 p.m. to commemorate the official merging of the San Juan Hospital District #1 with Village at the Harbor.

“I am very grateful that the hospital district came forward, they will be able to achieve things we were not able to,” Brian Brown, Village at the Harbor founder and investor, said. “It will be a great asset to the community.”

Voters approved a levy last fall approving funds to acquire the long-term care facility,

According to the hospital districts website, the levy will allow the district to “Immediately subsidize four to six Medicaid beds, fund the expansion of more capacity, support wages and benefits to retain staff and/or recruit additional staff, create a first-of-its-kind home-based program to help seniors age in place and pay the debt service on a bond to acquire the Village at the Harbor.

San Juan Island Hospital District 1 commissioner Trish Lehman thanked Brown, and other investors, as well as the voters who made the sale possible. She also thanked Nathan Butler, the Superintendent for the hospital district as well as Village at the Harbor Administrator Evan Perrollaz.

“[Evan} has put in double time to make this happen,” Lehman said, adding that “And my heart is full knowing that the staff now have health insurance and retirement benefits which simply could not exist for them before.”

Butler stated that part of the sale agreement was that Perrollaz would stay for at least one additional year. The crowd laughed, but it was clear Perrolaz played a crucial role in the Village acquirement.

“This has been an amazing journey. What this signifies today is a new day in eldercare, and what we are going to accomplish will be amazing,” Perrollaz said.

Hospital district commissioner Gail Leschine-Seitz. also noted the long journey, telling attendees that discussions regarding long-term senior care have been ongoing for years.

“Let this mark the beginning of the road,” she said, “with more options in long-term care for those who wish to stay in this community untill the end of their lives.”