Growing to serve seniors

McCready expanded its health care services in 1968 when it opened a nursing home and named it in memory of a beloved local resident, Alice Byrd Tawes. Mrs. Tawes was the mother of late Maryland Gov. J. Millard Tawes. That single-story structure was replaced this year by the new Alice B. Tawes Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. 

Why replace the nursing home? After four decades, it became apparent the original building was too small, too cramped and just too old by current nursing home standards. The original 69-bed facility also needs additional skilled nursing beds. Patients need -- and deserve -- larger rooms as well as modern dining and recreational areas. The staff needs more office space, more storage space and more room to work.  The new $12½ million, four-story structure with a waterfront view of the Little Annemessex River will fill those needs.

Mrs. Tawes’ great-grandson, Crisfield entrepreneur Jay Tawes, is working with fellow civic leaders, dedicated staff members and community residents in a campaign to raise $1 million that contributed to the construction of the new nursing home. The rest of the construction financing was a combination of local, state and federal loans, gifts and grants plus several million dollars of McCready Foundation funds. The Rural Development office of the federal Department of Agriculture played an instrumental role in providing a low-interest $6 million loan and guaranteed a bank loan for an additional $4 million. The new nursing home accommodates 76 nursing home patients, plus an additional 30  Assisted Living residents who will soon live on the top floor.

The first story is connected – as is the original nursing home – with McCready Hospital so patients, residents and the staff can travel back and forth easily. This floor contains a reception area, dining facilities, administrative offices and several large spaces for McCready and community meetings and social events.