Town hall provides vision for new nursing home in Grant

It was a night to envision the future last month at a second town hall meeting hosted by Western Sky Community Care Center in Grant. An estimated 110 people attended the Oct. 17 event at the Perkins County Fairgrounds.
Western Sky is working towards building a new $9.2 million elder care facility in Grant.
The five-member Western Sky steering committee was joined during the evening by project consultant Tim Groshans, senior administrator for Community Memorial Health Center, the nursing facility in Burwell, along with two doctors from Burwell associated with CMHC.
CMHC is serving as the fiscal sponsor for Western Sky until the organization secures a 501c3 designation by the IRS. The agreement allows Western Sky to begin fund raising now, according to steering committee member Mark Bottom.
Doctors speak
Dr. Hugh Holmquist, medical director at CMHC, and Dr. Tim Garner DDS, CMHC board of directors president, traveled to Grant with Groshans specifically for the town hall event.
“Burwell and Grant have a lot in common,” said Dr. Holmquist, laying out some of the similarities between the communities.
Holmquist discussed some of the challenges the Burwell medical community faced over the years, many similar to the rest of rural America.
From losing doctors, to loss of population, to struggles with operating medical facilities, Holmquist said it all eventually caused their hospital to close with the nursing home facing challenges soon after. That was until 2008 when Groshans was hired.
Holmquist praised Groshans’ business model that is specifically tailored to nursing homes.
Under Groshans’ leadership, the town was able to build a new facility, Holmquist said.
“You have to keep moving in the right direction. If you let it (the nursing home) go, the community will go too.”
Garner reiterated much of the struggles Burwell had gone through—retention challenges, financial issues, leadership struggles, but said that Groshans’ vision and unique approach to elder care turned it around.  
Garner alluded not only to the success of the nursing home, but also to how the 501c3 nonprofit has been able to give back to Burwell, including building a storage facility for the community, owning and utilizing a duplex to house out-of-town employees, having pledged money and land for the building of an early childhood development center and the building of a state-of-the-art classroom to start training current and future employees.
“I encourage you to stay committed to your purpose and vision for this community, recognize there will be distractions and challenges to your goal and understand the potential that you have to build this facility and the impact that it will have on Perkins County,” he said.  
Groshans then spoke to the crowd, praising Grant for the roots it provided him, and specifically giving credit to Golden Ours Convalescent Home and its former Director of Nursing Ann Regier, who was present at the meeting.
Groshans spoke of his love for making nursing homes successful and his love for the residents.
“I love taking care of the elderly,” he said. “I love getting up and going to work every day.”
Groshans spoke of the world of long-term elder care in rural America today and the challenges that come with a for-profit model, saying the future of long-term care is through a nonprofit platform.
“Long-term care doesn’t have to be as difficult as some facilities have made it,” he said. “We build around systems, not personalities. We are accountable for everything we do.”
Groshans said community is the most important thing for the success of any long-term facility.
What has happened
The facility will have a $60,000 grant from Perkins County Health Services that will be used as seed money, and a location for the facility has been secured, thanks to PCHS’s gift of eight acres of their ground to Western Sky for the new build, Bottom said.
Also complete is the survey of the ground, which is located just north of 10th Street in Grant. Closing on the ground is anticipated for early November, once the City of Grant completes the rezoning process, Bottom said.
Also happening behind the scenes is a market/feasibility study for the area to be used to apply for grant and bank funding, and a grant writer is being sought to begin the application processes, Bottom said.
Other questions posed during the meeting included Western Sky’s ability to utilize local contractors for the build, which it will do when possible; the types of care that will or could be provided, including both hospice and dementia care; the ability for both private pay and Medicaid residents to live at Western Sky; and information about the ability to lock in an interest rate on a USDA loan once it is secured.
Questions can be directed to steering committee members Mark and Renae Bottom, Steve and Chris Loeffler and Genie Bishop.
Fundraiser
A Western Sky benefit dinner announced by the Mennonite Community will be held this Saturday at the Perkins County Fairgrounds from 4-8 p.m.

Western Sky fact sheet

• Anticipated final build cost is $9.2 million for a 50-bed facility with an opening dat in 2024.
• Approximately $3.2 million in funds or pledges are needed by March 2023 to support loans sought for the facility.
• Funds or pledges are needed now to build the base for securing more funding in 2023. The amount of community support directly influences the types of resources that are available to Western Sky from banks and government funding sources.
• Substantial progress towards an operational facility must be shown within two years from when the long-term care licenses were acquired in June 2022.
• There are several ways to donate—cash, check, 401K disbursements, vehicle or land sales, estate settlements, gifts of grain, hosting an event through a community organization. The mailing address for Western Sky is P.O. Box 966, Grant, NE 69140.
• Donations can be made at Pinnacle Bank in Grant with Michelle Ross as the contact point. Other members of the fund raising committee are Doris Olsen, Steve Loeffler and Dennis Demmel.