Coming Soon - 2024 to 2026
Construction started April 17, 2024 with completion expected in 2026
WHAT
WHY
Construction started April 17, 2024 with completion expected in 2026
WHAT
- $26 Million Expansion & Extensive Updating/Remodeling of old building
- The 16,000 square foot addition will be added to the northeast end of the building.
- The expansion will allow us to remodel the existing building, converting the four bed wards into semi-private rooms, and most of the current semi-private rooms will become private rooms.
- Current configuration includes 6 four bed wards, 22 semi-private rooms & 28 private rooms.
- The proposed configuration will include 42 private rooms and 15 semi-private rooms for 72 beds.
- Rooms will be configured into neighborhoods which will be much less institutional than our current building.
- Mechanical, electrical, computer connections and public areas will be upgraded.
WHY
- Our current building is over sixty years old. An addition was put on in 2004. The building was great when it was built and has served the community well for 60 years. We need a major upgrade to get through the next sixty years with a building that Manistee County can be proud of.
- The current building was a huge advance from the old County Farm building with its male and female wards. The existing building with its multiple wards and semi-private rooms does a poor job of accommodating todays' typical resident, HIPAA requirements, desire for privacy, ability to have visitors, the required durable medical equipment, etc.
- We have many bathrooms that are too small for two staff to assist a resident from a wheelchair to a toilet safely. When our facility was built, most of the residents were mobile without wheelchairs, walkers and other assistive devices. Today it is common for residents to require the assistance of two staff for transfers to keep the resident and the staff safe.
- We have cast iron pipes that are past their useful life, buried under cement floors that should be replaced before there is a catastrophic failure.
- The heating, air conditioning, ventilation, plumbing, electrical systems are all old, out of date and require constant maintenance. COVID has put added emphasis on having a good ventilation system.
- The typical resident has greater needs than when the existing building was constructed. Our older rooms are too small for much of the equipment our residents need today like lifts, wheelchairs, walkers, oxygen concentrators, IV poles, tube feeding poles, etc.
- The majority of the funding for the Medical Care comes from Medicaid reimbursement. Medicaid reimbursement is based in part on certain approved and allowed expenses.
- The proposed building costs and the repayment of the debt is an approved and allowed expense which will be reimbursed by Medicaid based on Medicaid's formula.
- Based on feasibility study prepared by an independent auditing firm, once the debt expenses are in included in our Medicaid cost report and reimbursement is received the millage rate can be reduced, and eventually may even be eliminated.
- Each year the Medical Care will meet with the Manistee County Ways & Means Committee to review our financial situation and determine what portion of the millage should be levied. The Committee’s recommendation will then be sent to the full County Board for final approval.
We have cast iron pipes that are past their useful life, buried under cement floors that should be replaced before there is a catastrophic failure. The pipe in this picture is a vertical pipe that was removed and replaced several years ago.
We have many bathrooms that are too small for two staff to assist a resident from a wheelchair to a toilet safely. When our facility was built, most of the residents were mobile without wheelchairs, walkers and other assistive devices. Today it is common for residents to require the assistance of two or more staff for transfers to keep the resident and the staff safe.
New Private Room
Renovated Private Room
Renovated Semi Private Room
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Will you be able to staff a 72 bed facility after you build it?
A: Yes, the current staffing situation, basically the evaporation of a significant chunk of the service sector, has affected all health care settings, restaurants, retail and many other businesses. This has been fueled by government policies that continue to pay people not to work. We do not expect this to go on forever. People will have to go back to work. We currently offer paid training for Certified Nursing Assistants. Upon successful completion of the two week course, clinicals and testing, a CNA can make over $18 an hour here and there are currently premiums on top of that. The wages have never been higher.
We were experiencing normal turnover during the early part of the pandemic, but we were not getting people to apply for our jobs. People were afraid of Covid and did not want to work in nursing homes when the news was probably accurately portraying them as ground zero.
Several things happened during the pandemic that showed us some limitations of our old building. The first thing we had to do was set aside a Covid unit. We took 1 Dena (north) offline to be used as our Covid unit. This took thirteen beds offline. We did not need to have thirteen beds offline, but we had to have the Covid unit on its own ventilation system and be its own fire compartment. Some facilities put up plastic sheeting to make a smaller unit, and they got in trouble with the fire inspectors.
We had to separate our residents as much as possible to try to keep them at least six feet apart. This was impossible in the smaller rooms and in the four bed wards that had three or four people in them. We did the best we could, but when residents left, we did not admit a third or fourth resident to a four bed ward. We did this to keep our residents that were already here safe. This seems to have worked.
In May our staffing started to get really bad and we decided to slow down admissions even more. We did not want to have a building full of people that we cannot take care of. We owe our residents and staff better than that.
We are hopeful for the future of the Medical Care.
A: Yes, the current staffing situation, basically the evaporation of a significant chunk of the service sector, has affected all health care settings, restaurants, retail and many other businesses. This has been fueled by government policies that continue to pay people not to work. We do not expect this to go on forever. People will have to go back to work. We currently offer paid training for Certified Nursing Assistants. Upon successful completion of the two week course, clinicals and testing, a CNA can make over $18 an hour here and there are currently premiums on top of that. The wages have never been higher.
We were experiencing normal turnover during the early part of the pandemic, but we were not getting people to apply for our jobs. People were afraid of Covid and did not want to work in nursing homes when the news was probably accurately portraying them as ground zero.
Several things happened during the pandemic that showed us some limitations of our old building. The first thing we had to do was set aside a Covid unit. We took 1 Dena (north) offline to be used as our Covid unit. This took thirteen beds offline. We did not need to have thirteen beds offline, but we had to have the Covid unit on its own ventilation system and be its own fire compartment. Some facilities put up plastic sheeting to make a smaller unit, and they got in trouble with the fire inspectors.
We had to separate our residents as much as possible to try to keep them at least six feet apart. This was impossible in the smaller rooms and in the four bed wards that had three or four people in them. We did the best we could, but when residents left, we did not admit a third or fourth resident to a four bed ward. We did this to keep our residents that were already here safe. This seems to have worked.
In May our staffing started to get really bad and we decided to slow down admissions even more. We did not want to have a building full of people that we cannot take care of. We owe our residents and staff better than that.
We are hopeful for the future of the Medical Care.
