Stunned Kansas Masonic Home residents told they have six weeks to leave senior living

Residents of the Kansas Masonic Home were stunned to learn Friday that their home is closing as of Dec. 31.

“Six weeks? Seriously? These six weeks?” said Timirie Shibley, whose mother lives at the Delano facility.

“I mean, six weeks at holiday time in the dead of winter to dislocate elderly people is just unheard of.”

Brent Allison, whose mother also lives at the facility, said he was shaking after hearing the news.

“I’m beside myself,” he said.

“This is coming at us at the wrong time. My mom is not doing well. . . . This is going to be a big setback.”

CEO Michael Miller said several factors led to the decision to close the home, which is at 400 S. Martinson.

“Unfortunately, with our large . . . bond debt we’re not able to . . . be a sustainable company,” he said.

Though residents were shocked to learn the news, talk had been circulating around Wichita about the nonprofit’s inability to meet monthly expenses, and there was speculation that the home might close.

Miller said even if a reporter had called before Friday, he would have said the home would remain open.

“We were trying to keep it open this entire time,” he said. “Unfortunately . . . we ran out of runway, so to speak.”

In 2015, the nonprofit paid $22 million to do what Miller called a “major campus repositioning and update.”

The money went to build individual households for long-term care residents, which was a change from what he called an institutional model. The home also built rapid-recovery suites.

Then the pandemic struck.

“When COVID happened, people stopped getting admitted into long-term care,” Miller said.

The Kansas Masonic Home closed that division in September 2021, and 53 residents had to find other facilities.

The focus then shifted entirely to independent and senior living. There are two buildings, one with 64 apartments and one with 54 apartments.

Miller said there are fewer than 60 residents left, and he said he knows the move will be a challenge for some.

“I agree, it’s not fun,” he said. “Our team is available to assist with residents in finding other locations. . . . There are a lot of other homes in Wichita and Sedgwick County that are not at full capacity.”

That’s not what Shibley said she’s finding.

“I’ve talked to seven places today,” she said. “I’m hoping to hear back from three because the four I’ve already talked to are full.”

She added that “the other places are just as shocked at the timing.”

Shibley said, “They moved in a new resident yesterday. How do you wrap your head around that?”

She said some extra time “would have been way more feasible for all the families trying to locate their residents.”

“Really, how hard would one more quarter have been?”

Allison said it’s not that easy to find his mother another place, especially since she had a nice apartment with a patio. He said he’s already been keeping an eye out for other places because he and his family have been frustrated with management.

“We’ve been upset with the operation of this place for a long time,” he said. “The staff . . . has been very good. It’s just the management that’s been a mess.”

He said there have been communication issues, or no communication, along with billing and other issues.

“The list goes on. . . . Until the administration gets pressed for answers, we just can’t get anything out of them.”

Miller did not respond to the criticism over management or the timing of notifying residents.

He said there have been no efforts to sell the business.

“We have a bond, and we’re working with the bondholders.”

He said he’s not sure how much the nonprofit still owes on the bond and doesn’t know what’s going to happen with the building.

“It will be up to the bondholders.”

Though the Masonic Home once was affiliated with the Masons, it no longer is. However, Miller said, “The masons would give us some donations.”

Shibley said he mother “was very happy there” and that the staff was caring.

She said her mom missed the Friday announcement to residents and learned from a nurse who “came upstairs bawling,” not for her lost job but because she’ll miss the residents.

Allison had kind words for the staff who worked with residents as well.

“Nothing compares to the apartment she has,” he said. “It’s just going to be heartbreaking to send her to somewhere else.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 3:27 PM.