WINTER PARK, Fla. — The Gardens at Depugh Nursing Center said it cannot keep up with the cost of keeping the facility running.
“They’re broken-hearted,” Richard Baldwin, the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the facility, said. “Many of these are people who didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
Come December 1st, the facility will no longer serve residents. Baldwin said the decision to close comes as Medicare reimbursement rates have not kept up with inflation and the costs of running the facility.
“The cost here to operate a bed, regardless of the type it was, was about $500 a night,” Baldwin said. “The reimbursement rate for Medicare was about $270.”
The soon-to-close facility leaves over 20 residents searching for new housing.
“There are a couple of new ones, I don’t know where they are, new nursing home operations that have opened, that need some patients,” Baldwin said. “Most of them don’t want or won’t take Medicaid, that’s the challenge.”
Baldwin said it’s a challenge his staff will try to overcome. “They have to go somewhere else. We will help them to the extent that we can.”
The facility has been a shining beacon of healthcare for the community since the 1950s, proudly bearing the name of Mary Lee Depugh. She was passionate about improving healthcare access for the historically Black west side of Winter Park, and her vision continues to inspire us today.
“That’s where healthcare was for the black community for years,” Baldwin said. “Babies were born there, surgery was done there, whatever was done was done there.”
Something Baldwin said he thinks her legacy has accomplished.
Once the doors are officially closed, the association that owns the property plans to sell it and use the proceeds to support a charitable foundation. This foundation will be dedicated to spreading cheer and love throughout the community, helping to continue the mission in a heartfelt way.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2025 Cox Media Group
