 Welcome to Shebaugin County Government, working for you. This is our monthly TV show that tells you about the people working in Shebaugin, working for Shebaugin County and the services they provide. I'm the co-host, Dan Lemio, the County Board Chairman, along with Adam Payne, our administrative coordinator. And this month our guest is Dale Pauls, our director of our healthcare facilities. There's been a lot of activity the last... Well, there's been a lot of activity for every area of healthcare facilities, but especially the last year or so, Dale, and we'd like to talk a little bit today about the things that have been happening and the construction that's going on out there. But first, why don't you just start a little bit telling us about yourself and your roles and responsibilities at the healthcare facilities? Yes. It makes me reflect a little bit when you talk about myself. But I've been working in administrations and long-term care facilities for the last 29 years. When I think about that, it's gone quickly, which to me means that I've enjoyed it and I truly have. But in 1994, I came to Shebaugin County as the healthcare administrator at Rocky Knoll and was in that position until August of 2001 when I was named the healthcare director for the facilities. I continue to have the same responsibilities as Administrator Rocky Knoll, but in addition as the healthcare center's director, I'm responsible for the overall oversight supervision of the other two facilities. Of course, the major tasks there are planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the operations. I work closely with the healthcare committee and other liaison committees through meetings and through reports to them. So those are basically the main responsibilities that I have. There's a lot of things we could talk about with the healthcare facilities. We have a large group, one of our largest group of county employees working at these facilities, a fairly large budget. But the thing that's been in the media the most in the last years been the construction of our new addition to Rocky Knoll. Could you tell us a little bit about that construction and the status where we are in that construction? Well, I can tell you that the majority of it is nearing completion. The addition and the remodeling are virtually completed. And we are now just starting to refurbish the 1972 building. And the reason why that's starting right now is because we had residents occupying it until just recently. And that is projected to start on May 13th with a completion date near July 1st. We will have, when we're done, 195 licensed beds. There will be 37 beds in a new addition that will be for the developmentally disabled. We will have 158 skilled nursing beds. Of those, 99 will be strictly geriatric. Within those, even, we have a 16 bed dementia unit. And then the 59 additional beds will be for the severely and persistently mentally ill. We are looking to then relocate to within the next few months. That was going to be my next question. The main reason, the impetus for the construction of Rocky Knoll and the changes that we're making was, what do we do with Comprehensive Health Center? And this is part of our whole consolidation move. When exactly will that consolidation take place? We're planning to do that the week of July 15th through the 19th. Probably the Friday prior to that and the month of July 15th, we will be bringing equipment, furniture, and some of the personal belongings of the residents. And then on the 16th and 17th, we will relocate the residents to their new home. And how many residents are we talking about? These are the remaining residents at Comprehensive Health Center? Yes. How many are we talking about? Well, as of today, we have 88 residents. 88? Mm-hmm. And they will all be going to Rocky Knoll? Yes. Yes, they will. Again, divided up. You talked about the 37 bed unit. So obviously some are going to be in the new unit. Some are going to be in the original building. 34 will go to the new building and the 54 to the 1972 building. You said that the construction was nearly completion. We just had a meeting out there of the building committee basically ending up their work. Obviously some landscaping needs to be cleaned up yet and a few final touches put on. But the project was bigger than just Rocky Knoll and this new addition and the renovations you made in the original building. What about Sunny Ridge? We're going to be down to two campuses, the Rocky Knoll campus, the Sunny Ridge campus. Did part of this project involve Sunny Ridge also? Yes, it did. And we did a number of things with the physical plant as well as some residents transferring from comprehensive. With the physical plant we've tried to do some upgrading aesthetically as well as within the equipment areas. For example, we put new lighting in, we put new ceiling tile in. There's been air conditioning hopefully by the end of the year throughout Sunny Ridge. That project will be completed. There's a brand new courtyard on the east end of the building that is truly going to be nice for residents and families. They've done again some aesthetically fine things in the areas of their snack bar area with murals and paintings. Carper did the chapel area. So some of those things have certainly I think done a lot for the appearance of Sunny Ridge. But probably more importantly, as a part of the project as you were talking about, we have moved 14 residents from comprehensive over to the fifth floor. It's all part of integrating and providing a continuum of care that we want to achieve in the health care centers. Those people are with similar residents, with staff that are trained to provide services for those individuals. So we're really pleased with that transfer. And when did that transfer take place? They did that in March. The residents that you moved have been there for a month and a half, two months now. How is that working? The residents have adjusted very well. Well, it's a very nice location for them. There's an excellent activities area, dining room, and they have their own private rooms. We're talking to Julie Jollett's administrator of Sunny Ridge. They've gotten into the activities that are a part of that building. And so we're happy with how well they have adjusted as well as staff. Family members, pleased with that too? Yes, yes, much, very much so. Prior to their moving over, we had an opportunity to have them come and visit the area. And I know I had talked to people that, well, we're closer to where we live and we like what we see here as far as the facility where our family member will be living. We're talking about the consolidation and having two facilities now, Rockin' on Sunny Ridge, where we used to have three, consolidating downsizing, these are words that have been used. There's maybe a little concern that we're trying to get out of the business of nursing home care. And I realize this isn't one of the things that we had planned on talking about, but it just seems to me that because of the construction out at Rockin' all, the changes we're making at Sunny Ridge, that the immediate future, we're going to be there to provide care for the elderly. Yes, yes, I think we have a mission statement that we want to fulfill in the near future and that's to provide for Sheboyton County residents. How many beds will we still have, even though we're downsizing from the number that we had maybe 10 years ago? Can you tell me how many beds it's approximately that we will have in both facilities? We'll have 319 at Sunny Ridge and then 195 at Rockin' all. So 514. So we're still a fairly large presence in the nursing home field in Sheboyton County. Yes, we certainly are. Thank you. I think about how the chairman opened this program discussing all the activities out there. When I started this position in January of 1999, for weeks and months and perhaps a couple of years there, you couldn't pick up the newspaper without reading about the controversy and what was the county going to do? Were we going to consolidate? Were we going to build at Rockin' all? Were we going to build a free standing? Were we going to get out of the business? A tremendous amount of controversy and it's really gratifying to see things come together and it's happened with a great deal of public input and a lot of people being involved with the success of this project. Linda Martin was the Health Care Center's director when I started, again, three and a half years ago. Gene Larabee has been on this program two different occasions. He was involved with many of the decisions and providing recommendations to the county board on the ultimate compromise and it's refreshing to have Dale in this position now. He's been not only our administrator at Rockin' all, but has really, I think, Dale, you've really brought the skill of the teamwork approach in getting people involved with the consolidation, implementing the consolidation, the plan that the county board unanimously approved. What have you done? What steps have you taken to get families, the residents, your staff involved with implementing the consolidation plan? Well, I begin with a staff. I think shortly after we broke down and started construction, we formed a number of committees that we felt needed to deal with specific issues. For example, with residents, with staff, with furniture and equipment, with physicians, ancillary services. So we began to plan with them the different challenges that we knew we were going to have with those different areas for hopefully having a satisfactory consolidation. Those have been ongoing now and we continue to work with them. One of the things that helped us really in this was the transfer to a sunny ridge because it was sort of a trial. And we've learned from that, too. But those are going on as far as staff are concerned. Community communications is another area, particularly with staff. We had employees and assistants come in and talk about change relating to what was going to happen with our staff. So I believe we've seen successes from doing that with our staff. Residents, resident council is probably one of the big communication devices. We've tried to keep them updated, get input from them through those meetings. Those are held monthly. When we move residents, for example, to Sunny Ridge, there is a planning conference way in advance that we deal with the family and the residents so that they have input on that. We've had family meetings, again, to get them involved in suggestions and ideas. Going back to staff, more recently in the last month or two, we've had tours of the building. That's been very helpful because now people from comprehensive have had the opportunity to see it, made suggestions that we missed. So even volunteers, we had a volunteer recognition and band quit there for the comprehensive volunteers. They got a chance to see the building. We're very pleased with it and thought that the residents were going to truly enjoy the new home. So we've used all those avenues to get these different people involved. Well, I think about the role of the building committee. The county board, ultimately, came together with a compromise based on a great deal of public input and discussion and consultants in that process. Then we had to go about actually implementing it and developing the plan. We hired an architect. We had a construction manager and attending some of those building committee meetings to see your staff coming in and making suggestions along the way with the chapel at Rocky Knoll. The volunteers came in and some of the residents were concerned about a wall that went all the way through. I think there was a great appreciation from a standpoint of there was an opportunity to be heard and the building committee made adjustments. In fact, what did we learn? There were 300, 400 change orders along the way. Minor refinements here and there to further improve upon the plan. Again, we're talking about an $8.9 million investment. When the county board chairman mentioned earlier that are we going to be in this business, I think we are going to be in this business. The county board not only made the decision, but we're making an incredible investment in our operations. You touched on it and the chairman raised it as well when we first initially moved some people to Sonny Ridge and there was a real positive article that came out. How are people responding at this point? Do you feel there's a lot of enthusiasm and they're accepting that change is going to occur? What's the general tone? Overall, particularly with staff there is growing acceptance of that and I think it's helped with the tours. People knowing what their physical location is going to be and so I see positiveness coming from our staff. Residents that moved like within Rocky Knoll to the north building, they're adjusting quite well. Some of the comprehensive residents, particularly that are going to be in the ICE-FMR are, we're very excited to pick out my room. Overall, I think a very positive atmosphere. I think your decision to have the staff go with the residents to keep that continuity certainly has to help as well. I know they're involved with getting the room set up and decorated and that's got to provide more comfort in the transition. Meanwhile, while we're moving to the new, we still have the Comprehensive Health Care Center, the outdated facility that we're going to be vacating and the Health Care Center's committee appointed a subcommittee to look at the sale of that property or disposition. Thank you of that property. And where are we at with that? What's happening with the Comprehensive Health Care Center? Well, currently we have five parties that have showed an interest in either the partial property or the entire property. And at the Health Care's Committee meeting tonight, this subcommittee will be recommending that a letter will be sent to interested parties and inviting them to tour and then to request some formal offers that we would want back by June 3rd of this year. So yes, we have some interest. Very good. And in short, it's what, the acre grounds and number of buildings, what generally do we have for sale? What's out there? Yes, you're right. 65 acres, which approximately, I believe, 45 or tillable acres. And then the major complex, we've got some outlying farm buildings as well as an old laundry and some garages in the boiler room. So there's a number of buildings. And this you touched on earlier as well, to be aware of activities, keeping them not only aware of the consolidation and what the dedication is going to be, but also what's happening with comprehensive. What steps have you taken to make sure that we're keeping the public aware of what's going on? Well, you mentioned earlier, we've had excellent press coverage through news stories as things have been unfolding. But we also provide a, to this bi-monthly newsletter that we get out to clinics and other points in the community that we're able to let people know what's going on. Recently in the last couple of months, the Community Relations Director and myself have gone to a number of service organizations to let them know what's happening with the consolidation. In the health care committee meetings, we try to continue. And with the timetable of the overall consolidation and the budget to date, what's been your sense? Are we on track? Yes, we definitely are. The timetable is excellent. If we're done by July 1st, we're well within our target there. And when's the dedication going to be held? Dedication will be held on July 23rd, June 23rd, beginning at 1.30 in the afternoon. Following the dedication ceremony, we will have an open house. Tours will be available at that time. We're looking to start in the new reception area and conclude in the dining room of the ICE-FMR for refreshments. So June 23rd at Rocky Hill, and the public's invited? Yes, indeed. One of the things that the Health Care Centers Committee has done in the last couple of years is set up a foundation. Dale, could you tell us a little bit about the foundation and how it works and how it provides some financial aid to the facilities? It was originally set up to help supplement as far as with revenues, with our current revenues, there's some things that we just as able to do. And so it was set up to kind of deal with those type of things. By having it being a 501C3 status, it does act as a charitable organization with the contributions that we get directly, it is for directly benefiting the residents of our Health Care Centers. And the board, this foundation board is made up of who, what type of individuals do you have the board filled? We still have a couple vacancies on the board. There's a member of the Health Care Centers is on it. I'm a member of the board, Tim Finch, the finance director for the county is a member. It meets quarterly. What, and you still have some openings on this board? Yes. What type of person are you looking for? Well, we're looking for... we're looking at something to do with spare time. What type of person are you looking for? An individual that certainly does have the time to devote to it, but one that is community oriented, particularly interested in people in the health care facilities and trying to improve their lives. You mentioned the way the foundation is set up. If I would donate to that, is that money tax deductible? And if I donated, what would you use that money for? Yes. The foundation, as I said, is a 501 C3 organization. So as far as the law will permit, it's tax deductible. We've used them for a number of things, depending on if, as an individual, if you specified exactly what you wanted, it would be done. Just recently we had a resident pass away that was very much interested in music. So the family donated money for any type of musical item. It could be for decorating a hospice room, which we did at Sunny Ridge, or purchasing certain types of equipment, bathing equipment that is needed by a resident. And how do you I realize if I would donate to that, that would be a contribution to the foundation. Are there any other ways set up to promote the foundation and to raise funds? Anything planned in the near future? Well, one of the things I mentioned is communicating to the community about what was going on, the Salvation Project. We also took the opportunity to explain the foundation. We have brochures that we distribute to them. But we are planning a golf founding in the fall and then there's another calendar raffle that I believe the Community Relations Director said that we would be trying to do, so we would be there's a couple projects that we have in mind right now. And if our viewers are interested in those projects, how would they find out a little more about them? Or would they find out more about the foundation? Who would they get in contact with? Jennifer Holtzman is the Community Relations Director and she would be the person to contact at Rocky and Noel and her telephone numbers 467-6464 and she can explain to them how they can be donors if they're interested in being on the committee and give them a background about the foundation in general. Would that also be the person that, for example, if a civic group, you mentioned that you and Jennifer had been out to some different organizations promoting the healthcare facilities and the consolidation projects that they would contact if they're looking for a speaker to come to their event and talk to them? Yes. And you would be willing to... We're more interested, very much interested in being able to do that. We have a few minutes left yet. Do you think that you could just in more general terms, and we've been talking about the consolidation and what that means for the residents from the Conference of Health Center that will be moving to both Rockingall and Sunny Ridge, but just maybe for a minute or two, just an overall overview of our healthcare facilities and what type of residents that we're providing services to. People think of 20 years ago when our healthcare centers and nursing homes were more like retirement homes and you'd go there and you'd sell your house and live there for the last 20 years of your life. Is that the atmosphere we have now in our healthcare facilities? Or has that changed? It certainly has changed in the last 20 years. It isn't a retirement home anymore. And when we look at Rockingall campus, we're going to have probably five different distinct populations that we're going to be caring for. With the developmentally disabled, the chroniclementally ill, and then the geriatric population who, if it's not just general conditions, may have physical needs through Medicare, therapies that are eligible for. I mentioned earlier that we have now a dedicated dementia unit. So we have a broad number of residents that we're caring for. Can you say a dedicated dementia unit? Would that be the same thing as an Alzheimer's unit? Some places would call them. We have 16 beds that again will be so that as we know some of those people wander it'll have a security system to keep them safe. We're just completing some education for staff that were interested for that unit to work there. And we're real pleased with how that's going and how we'll be able to meet their needs a little more specifically than we have in the past. The other concern that people would have is that, well, there are two concerns. One is we have a lot of empty beds all over the county. Another concern is we're getting so small they won't have enough beds. What is the status in our facilities right now as far as availability of beds if somebody has a need to place a loved one in a nursing home? Right now, Rocky Knoll would be basically at capacity. But the we've come down to and will be at 99 licensed beds for the north building. Sunny Ridge has openings and I think because of the type of population we're talking about with Medicare people, the short term stays. We will be turning over and I still think that we will meet the needs of our residents of Sheboygan County. There may be a person having been on a waiting list for a little bit of time but I don't see that as anything of any length. Where do you get most of your referrals for new residents? Are they coming from hospitals or are they coming from doctors? They're not coming from the people that are retiring and selling their house anymore and looking for a retirement home so are you getting most of your referrals from the medical profession? Yes, we do. They may come directly from home but it's as a result of they've tried to maintain them as long as they can and then the doctor refers them. Most of them are coming through for referrals. Thank you Dale, it's been very interesting. I'm sure our viewers have a little bit better idea of the services that our health care centers are providing and what's going to happen with their consolidation and we look forward to seeing them on June 23rd Sunday afternoon. They can view the open house and the facility, the new facility and stay for some refreshments. Thank you. We're county government working for you show. We're going to have Jim Graff, the director of our child support department and we're going to learn a little bit more about the services that they provide and the way their office runs, the collections they perform and how they work with the state in providing this service. Thank you for watching and we hope to see you again next month in the county government working for you. Thank you.