BEDFORD – Bedford Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, a home for 101 skilled nursing and rehabil­itation patients, today marks the first year anniversary of its return as a family-run fa­cility.

"In one short year, we’ve made great strides to con­vert BNRC into the kind of place that I would want my own grandparents to live in," said John M. Turcotte, BN­RC’s president and CEO.

"Through the hard work of our dedicated staff, we have created a friendly, safe and happy home for our residents while simultane­ously providing the high­est quality and most cost effective care. I know my parents would be proud," he said.

In the early 1960s, Tur­cotte’s parents, Norman L. Turcotte and Elizabeth R. Turcotte, RN, acquired their first nursing home, a 13- bed facility in a repurposed farmhouse in Massachu­setts. Elizabeth focused on increasing the level of care and quality of life of the residents through chang­es in nursing practices and procedures, while Norman improved and expanded the size of the facility to serve 45 residents.

Their innovative model of care was so successful that they were able to expand their business by purchasing BNRC (then known as the Demers Nursing Home) in 1972. After successfully op­erating the facility for sev­eral years, Elizabeth passed away, and in 1985, as Nor­man Turcotte neared retire­ment, he turned over opera­tion of the facility to a third party. John resumed family control of BNRC on Sept. 1, 2014.

One year ago, John Tur­cotte, Norman and Eliza­beth’s youngest son, left his law practice and became the day-to-day leader of BNRC. "Like my parents, I have found the work of leading BNRC to be very fulfilling, and quite in­spiring too. Staff such as Brett Lennerton, MSBA, our administrator, and Deb Harpin, BA, LPN, our admissions director, have worked tirelessly in the past year to create a wel­coming, home-like envi­ronment for our residents and their loved ones as well as to improve the quality of care that we provide to our residents," Turcotte said.

"John has been a breath of fresh air. Our mom has been at BNRC for the past 14 years. We’re impressed at how much more posi­tive and family-friendly the center has become in the past year," said Rita Huard and Jane Fournier, daugh­ters of Margie Paris. "Our mom has noticed too. She loves participating in all of the activities – even the water gun fights and Slinky races – and the pig roast for residents, staff and families was one of her favorite days of the year."

"One of the initiatives that I am most proud of is our partnership with Gene­ia. In this innovative pilot program, we will be the first skilled nursing and rehabil­itation facility in the coun­try to use their advanced analytics solution coupled with its remote monitoring platform to cost-effectively improve the quality of pa­tient care," said Turcotte. "Their solutions will help us efficiently identify clinical issues earlier and to inter­vene before any significant deterioration occurs, and also enable us to provide our residents with the right care, at the right time and in the right setting."

"Like my parents, we remain committed to im­proving the day-to-day living experience of our residents,and many exciting changes are on the horizon," Turcotte said. "I believe that Margie Paris and our other residents are most enthusi­astic about the introduction of a full-time professional chef, Hilton Dottin, who is dedicated to improving the quality and presenta­tion of our culinary services. Through a new partnership with The Elliot Center for Wound Care, we are provid­ing a higher quality of acute wound care and service to our residents on site. We also have embarked on an ambitious capital improve­ment and renovation initia­tive to improve the aesthet­ics of the facility."