ALC Donates To Health Foundation

7 Dec 2024 Mountrail Bethel Home, News, Partnering for the Future , , ,

The new nursing home phase of construction at the Mountrail County Health Center received a generous donation of $500,000 from the American Lutheran Church in Stanley last week.

Roger Gjellstad, vice-president of the church council, said that the church has been blessed with oil revenue and they felt this was a great local, Christian project, that they wanted to support. The congregation voted to make the donation last year.

Gjellstad said that they are very excited to have this facility in the community. The community is also very blessed to have MCHC looking to the future of taking care of residents for years to come.

Work on the new nursing home phase of construction remains right on schedule with crews planning to take Christmas week off. Anderson Steel has been hard at work getting the steel set. Outer walls should start going up on December 16 with roofing beginning in the first full week of January. After that, it will be full speed ahead with work on the interior of the building.

The first phase of the construction is the new 36 bed nursing home, including ten basic care rooms, the same number of beds as the current nursing home. This Nursing Home phase is expected to take roughly two years and once completed will come up to where the current north wing is located.

On the hospital side, renovations will start with a new entrance near the existing sunroom at Mountrail Bethel Home (MBH). There will be a gift shop and a new waiting room. Construction down the current south wing of the nursing home will include adding an out-patient infusion suite, pharmacy suite and an MRI suite.

Purchasing will be moving from the basement to the upper level. The downstairs area will be renovated to accommodate a new specialty clinic that will allow the facility to bring in more specialists. It will also include a minor procedure room.

The ambulance bay by the emergency room will be extended to accommodate the larger sizes of the newer ambulances.

They will also be adding seven new apartments to Rosen Place. The assisted living facility currently has a waiting list of 31, showing the need for the new apartments. These will all be single apartments based on the footprint space available. These apartments will be located along the rest of the current south wing of the nursing home. The Rosen Place addition is the final part of construction.

Fundraising for the entire project continues. To date, the Mountrail County Health Foundation has $36 million of the estimated $47 million cost of the project.

“To say the Foundation is grateful for this amazing donation from the American Lutheran Church is an understatement. We celebrated National Rural Health Day two weeks ago. With 61 million people calling a rural community their home, rural medical facilities are the lifeline of America’s underserved, emphasizing the term “The POWER of Rural”. For if the Mountrail County Health Center was not in existence,  that would mean 36 Nursing Home residents, with 18 new admissions over the past year, 15 Rosen Place residents and 4 Basic Care residents would not have a home.  That would mean 345 Outpatients, 23 Swingbeds patients, 9,791 Clinic patients, 6,210 lab visits, 3,641 Radiology visits, 4,445 Physical Therapy patients and 3,005 ER Visits would have to find other facilities outside of Mountrail County to go to. That also would mean 141 employees would have to find another facility to work at.

The Mountrail County Medical Center and the Mountrail Bethel Home Boards approved, over the last year, to move forward with a  $47 million dollar building project, including a new nursing Home.  The County has generously pledged towards the new nursing home. To ensure the future services of the nursing home to take care of the elderly in rural communities, the Mountrail County Health Foundation has set an aggressive goal of fundraising the remaining $11 million dollars. The community has always rallied around the Health Center on its previous projects. And now it’s time to focus on the Nursing Home and allow our residents a higher quality of life.”

To donate to the Partnering For the Future Campaign, please contact Steph Everett at 701-628-8603. For donation options, you can also visit the Health Foundation’s website at www.mountrailcountyhealthfoundation.org.

Groundbreaking Starts MCHC Project

30 Jul 2024 Uncategorized , , , ,

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in the courtyard at Mountrail Bethel Home on Wednesday, July 17 to mark the start of a four-year project on the Mountrail County Health Center’s campus.

The event featured comments from many involved in the project. MCHC CEO/Administrator Steph Everett highlighted the significance of the project as it creates a new home for the Mountrail Bethel Home residents. With 31 on the waiting list at Rosen place, the project will also add more units for the assisted living. Everett expressed gratitude to the Mountrail County Commissioners, saying they could not have started on the project yet without their support in pledging $25 million toward the $29 million cost of the nursing home phase of the project.

Dr. Mark Longmuir spoke about how long this project has been on the list of projects. He said he started as a CNA in 1997 and they were already discussing the need. The projects already completed include a new chapel at MBH, upgrades to the ER and the clinic expansion, but this project will update the remaining facilities. He expressed his gratitude to everyone who has donated to the various projects, saying he is looking forward to the final completion.

Mike Bratton of McGough Construction, the CMAR for the project, spoke about the project. As a Stanley High School graduate, he is excited to be part of this project and to work with the team at MCHC and EAPC, the architects for the project.

Ryan Gjellstad, president of the board, also expressed how it is nice to have not only McGough with their experience in the field, but also someone local as part of this project. He said that Stanley deserves this new, updated facility. The growth will be great for everyone. He expressed his appreciation to the former board members and board chairpersons, doctors, employees and county for all of the time put it to taking this project from planning to today.

Representative Don Longmuir spoke about how this project is a beautiful example of cooperation and a shining example of what can be done when entities work together. He also commended the tenacity of the various boards in never giving up on this goal.

Former board chairman Heath Hetzel said that the courtyard where the event was held was a special place, just outside the new chapel at Bethel Home. When the nursing home wing comes down, the chapel will be a focal point to the newly completed project. He asked that residents bear with them during the construction. He said that it was amazing to see the county partner with them in such a big way and he is excited to see the project begin. Lord willing, he said, the project will be complete in 42 months.

Pastor Erin Tormanen offered the invocation and blessing for the project, pointing towards scripture and the commandment to love the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. The facility will be one of those ways as the doors will open and residents will receive the care and assistance they need including the emotional and spiritual care and help. He encouraged everyone to never lose sight of the rare and beautiful treasure of souls that will fill the rooms in the new nursing home.

The residents at Mountrail Bethel Home were given the shovels for the ceremonial groundbreaking. Lunch was served in the Rosen Place parking lot with Bravera Bank on hand to do the cooking.

Construction will get underway this week with the demolition of the former Centennial Court. The first phase of the construction will follow on that site with a new 36 bed nursing home, including ten basic care rooms, the same number of beds as the current nursing home. This Nursing Home phase is expected to take roughly two years and once completed will come up to where the current north wing is located.

On the hospital side, renovations will start with a new entrance near the existing sunroom at Mountrail Bethel Home (MBH). There will be a gift shop and a new waiting room. Construction down the current south wing of the nursing home will include adding an out-patient infusion suite, pharmacy suite and an MRI suite.

Purchasing will be moving from the basement to the upper level. The downstairs area will be renovated to accommodate a new specialty clinic that will allow the facility to bring in more specialists. It will also include a minor procedure room.

The ambulance bay by the emergency room will be extended to accommodate the larger sizes of the newer ambulances.

They will also be adding seven new apartments to Rosen Place. The assisted living facility currently has a waiting list of 31, showing the need for the new apartments. These will all be single apartments based on the footprint space available. These apartments will be located along the rest of the current south wing of the nursing home. The Rosen Place addition is the final part of construction.

The entire project cost is estimated at $47 million, with $29 million of that for the new nursing home. The Mountrail County Commissioners have stepped up and have pledged $25 million over two years for the nursing home portion of the project. A grant for $15 million is guaranteed and an additional $10 million is pending the outcome of the property tax elimination bill.

MCHC has set a goal to fundraise an additional $15 million dollars for this project. Everett says they have additional funding sources set aside for the project. That includes funds available from Mountrail Bethel Home, Mountrail County Medical Center, Rosen Place, Mountrail County Health Foundation, kitchen funds set aside in a donation, and 340B money. They will also continue to look at grant opportunities along with the fundraising campaign. The Foundation continues to accept donations from the public including the ability to donate on their website: www.mountrailcountyhealthfoundation.org/how-you-canhelp.

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