Rural Nursing Homes Are Closing, Hollowing Out Small US Towns

Urben Gratz first heard it at the post office. The Good Samaritan nursing home where his wife lived was closing. In Mott, a community of almost 700 in southwestern North Dakota, there were no other options. Gratz eventually found a place for Irene at a home in Dickinson, 60 miles away. She moved in on June 1, 2022, their 69th wedding anniversary, and died there three months later at age 90. Some families had to take their loved ones as far as Fargo, 300 miles east. “It was a big blow to the town,” Gratz says. “Everybody was not prepared ...