The local Good Samaritan Society is more than one year into a three-year period during which it can build a new facility.
Good Samaritan officials want to plan a new senior care center along with the pending relocation of the Rainy Lake Medical Center hospital campus near the current RLMC clinic campus on Keenan Drive.
“We share a vision with our community, with our city, with the hospital,” said Adam Coe, administrator of the local Good Samaritan Society. “We share a vision to create a health care campus that can meet the needs of our community for many years to come.”
A moratorium was earlier placed on the number of nursing home beds allowed in Minnesota, Coe explained. Without prior approval, Good Samaritan would not be able to change the number of beds in the center. An exception to the moratorium was granted in March 2009. The original time frame for the change was 18 months, but the center was granted another 18 months to become construction ready — resulting in a March 2012 deadline.
Coe said he “remains optimistic” that the non-profit organization can work with the hospital to coordinate their mutual relocations.
“It just makes overall common sense,” Coe told a group gathered at a recent International Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Brown Bag Lunch at the AmericInn.
Coe reiterated several times that while he could not speak for the medical center — which although they share adjoining buildings is completely separate from Good Samaritan — he felt it was in the best interests of both organizations and the community to move together and remain in attached buildings.
RLMC CEO Brian Long told The Journal that the hospital is “very receptive” to sharing a location and possible services with the Good Samaritan Society.
Long said that plans are still underway to move the hospital near the clinic, but pointed to financing and wetlands issues that must be resolved prior to moving forward. Long said the plans are also challenged by time constraints to take advantage of financial support through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He said the hospital would monitor deadlines carefully and plan accordingly.
Coe said the medical center and society could share common costs, such as for building design and construction, which could lead to cost savings for both organizations if they moved at the same time. In addition, Good Samaritan residents would not have to be transferred back and forth for medical treatment in the interim.
Good Samaritan, which opened its International Falls location in 1992, has set a goal of raising $1 million towards the project through local donations in a capital campaign.
Coe said that word of mouth through the community will be important in achieving that goal.
Coe reviewed several ways that the community could help attain the goal, including by giving gifts, serving on the campaign committee, sharing fundraising ideas with the committee and networking in the community.
The total project costs are estimated at $17 million. The remaining $16 million will come from loans, including low-interest loans through other Good Samaritan Society funds.
Increasing the price of services is not an option for Good Samaritan to raise the money, Coe said, since the Society is reimbursed through government programs for its services.
Coe said that the move is necessary to meet the changing needs of its residents.
Through its services and housing options, including rehabilitation and home care, the Society assists around 300 residents each year. Having a modern facility may help keep those “neighbors, friends, parents and grandparents” in the community, Coe said.
Good Samaritan employs about 100 people in its local operation, and proposes to maintain a similar level of staffing at a new site, Coe said, with salaries totaling $2.2 million per year.
“We feel we’re very important in the livelihood of the community,” he remarked.
The current facility, located on Highway 71 and attached to the hospital, was built in 1963 and has outlasted its life, he said.
“The demands of our consumers are changing,” he explained. Bathroom facilities and the availability of electrical outlets need modernizing, and the entire facility needs to be given a less-institutional feel, he added.
The current facility was built on a medical model of care, he said. That called for efficient services with nurses stations, wide hallways, shared rooms and bathrooms. It’s now recognized that the needs of residents go beyond medical care. A new facility would be less clinical in appearance and provide “more privacy and more dignity” with the comforts of home.
The overall facility would increase the number of beds to 54 in the care center, and an additional 24 in an assisted-living facility. That is an increase of 10 beds over the current 68 beds in the care center.
Coe noted that the newer River’s Edge Villa senior living apartments would remain at the riverfront location.
