Elder care efforts in Grant moving forward with new building in plans

    After two meetings with the Perkins County Health Services board of directors, a newly formed LLC, with the formal name of Our GoldenHours, has decided to move forward and build a new elder care facility in the county.
    The LLC was formed by Mark Bottom, Chris and Steve Loeffler and Genie Bishop with the goal to maintain elder care in the county after the Perkins County Health Services board of directors voted May 16 not to renew the license of its nursing home, Golden Ours, with its final license set to expire on July 15.
    With the decision to build,  the group now seeks monetary and logistical support of several in the county to accomplish the feat, especially from the PCHS board.
    During its regular board meeting Monday, many of the PCHS board members verbally stated they are willing to work with the LLC. However, the parameters of what this assistance will be have not yet been set.
    Another special meeting has been set for Monday, June 27, at 1 p.m. to continue discussion on the assistance PCHS could provide.
Action plan proposed
    The LLC members met for a couple of hours of discussion June 17 with PCHS board members John Long, Jeff Skeels and Dianne Harms. New board members Melissa Wilson and Marcia Shalla were not present.
    Also at the meeting were CEO Neil Hilton, legal counsel Rick Roberts, PCHS CFO Taylor Maucher and other staff members.
    The LLC’s goal for the special meeting was to encourage PCHS to work with the LLC to reopen Golden Ours to allow the LLC to attract residents back to the community and develop a revenue source, while at the same time build a new facility to move residents into.
    However, after the meeting the LLC members were advised by Tim Groshans, owner of Senior Insight LLC of Burwell, an elder care management company assisting the LLC, that it would not be advantageous for the LLC to reopen Golden Ours.
    The LLC group met over the weekend and came up with a contingency plan of moving directly to a build phase, which Groshans said he would fully support.
    The LLC then presented the proposal to the PCHS board of directors on Monday this week. However, no action was taken by the board at that time.
    The new proposed plan presented to the PCHS board of directors was as follows:
    1) The LLC requests that PCHS maintain active status of the existing 50 Golden Ours licenses as long as Nebraska regulations allow before starting the change of ownership process of the LLC. This will allow the LLC time to organize and continue fundraising for a new facility.
    2) Our GoldenHours LLC will prepare a written agreement regarding transfer of licenses for review and action at the June 27 special meeting.
    3) The LLC requests that PCHS transfer all resident care items, medical equipment and supplies that are non-perishable from Golden Ours to the LLC. PCHS will provide a current inventory of those items and storage until they can be utilized by the LLC, or other arrangements become necessary.
    4) The LLC requests a six-month contract agreement with PCHS at a rate of $10,000/month, payable to Our GoldenHours LLC, beginning July 1, 2022 This agreement could be reviewed or renewed at the end of six months. These funds would allow the LLC to research, plan, secure property and raise funds to build a long-term care facility in Perkins County. Some of the services may be subcontracted.
    5) The LLC requests a decision at the June 27 special meeting on PCHS’s intentions regarding gifting the Frederick land as a location for a new facility.
    According to Mark Bottom, the LLC is now working on a funding structure (USDA loans, grants, local lending, fundraising, getting the land secured, preparing boards and committees, beginning to search for a new facility administrator and so on.
    “We have set a mid-July goal to potentially have another town hall meeting,” he said. “This meeting would be used to kickoff fundraising.”
    The LLC is planning on the building phase to begin in the spring 2023 with opening to be in the spring 2024, Bottom said.
    Those who would like to help, or have questions, are asked to contact Bottom or any member of the Our Golden Hours LLC.