Group effort finds Navy veteran a Hyannis berth

Jun. 14--BREWSTER -- Francis Preston will get to celebrate Father's Day on Cape Cod after all.

The 99-year-old Navy veteran, who was scheduled to move this week from Brewster to an assisted-living residence in Norton has been promised a new berth in Hyannis.

"What a happy ending!" said Katherine Sanderson, of Sandwich, one of Preston's five children.

"He's excited now," Sanderson said.

Preston was scheduled to move Thursday from Wingate Residences at Brewster Place, which is closing Aug. 2, to a Wingate facility 70 miles away in Norton after family members and others could not locate an assisted-living facility on the Cape currently accepting participants in Preston's group adult foster care program.

But a group effort by friends, a state senator and local senior care administrators led to the discovery of a unit at Brookdale Assisted Living in Hyannis.

Preston is scheduled to move there in two or three weeks from the Brewster facility, Sanderson said.

"I'm glad it worked," said Michele Armour, of Falmouth, a retired community activist with the Coalition for Social Justice.

She met Preston through her friend Donna Storer, of Hyannis, who attends weekly services at Victory Chapel in Hyannis with him.

Incensed that Preston was being pushed off the Cape, away from his daughter, friends and church after 55 years here, Armour notified the Times, which ran a story about Preston's predicament in Tuesday's paper.

She also got in touch with state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, who contacted William Bogdanovich, president and CEO of Broad Reach Health Care in Chatham and president of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association Foundation.

"Sometimes that's what it takes," Bogdanovich said. "I'm glad it came together."

"It was too tragic not to get involved," said Broad Reach Vice President Jerilyn Lemont.

Lemont reached out to Patricia Herlihy at Brookdale in Hyannis, which Cyr said is one of two facilities on the Cape to accept participants in the subsidized group adult foster care program.

"They've always been really great to work with," Lemont said. "Pat didn't hesitate."

Sanderson said from what she understands, Brookdale has a resident who is moving into memory care, which created an opening in its assisted-living facility.

With Wingate Residences at Brewster Place closing, the only other facility on the Cape accepting clients in the subsidized adult foster care program is Cape Cod Senior Residences in Pocasset, Cyr said.

And Sanderson said the Pocasset program does not currently have any openings for her father.

She said Preston, a retired meat cutter in Chatham who worked part time until he was 86, contributes nearly all of his Social Security benefits toward assisted living, and the government subsidizes the rest of the cost.

Sanderson said she thought the Chelsea Soldiers' Home might have slots in facilities on Cape Cod, but a representative from the organization said the home does not have satellite units.

Nursing home residents have more protections when it comes to relocation than people in assisted living, who are mainly private payers, Cyr said.

"Certainly I have some concerns about how we got to this place in the first place," Cyr said. "It points to broader challenges in the system."

In Preston's case, "Jerilyn and Pat came up with the solution, which is really remarkable," Cyr said.

Armour said Preston's army of friends and his family are thrilled he is staying on the Cape and will celebrate his 100th birthday here in July.

"It's wonderful," Armour said.

-- Follow Cynthia McCormick on Twitter: @Cmccormickcct.

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