New nursing home layout allows high level of functionality for staff, residents
BY BECKY UEHLING
GRANT TRIBUNE
It wasn’t too long ago that Tim and Hayley Groshans, owners of the nursing home consulting company Senior Insight, sat on their back porch and sketched on a napkin their vision of well-designed nursing home. Much of what they drew that evening has come to life in Aurora, Burwell and now in Grant with the building of Western Sky Community Care Center.
In an interview recently, Tim said the couple knew there could be a better way to offer care to residents, while at the same time creating more efficiency for staff, than what traditional nursing homes had offered. At that time, the couple had just started the new consulting company Senior Insight, with the mission of helping communities build successful nursing homes, and they began seeking out a contractor who could bring their vision into reality.
The Groshans connected with Ayars and Ayars Construction out of Omaha, which had vision similar to theirs with creating a wide-open, functional layout, and Ayars was on-board to put the plan into practice. Tim said many other construction companies they reached out to were hesitant to take on their design for the simple reason that the plans had a lot of open space, which created many engineering challenges. However, Ayars was ready to take on the project.
“So we went to our first meeting with Ayars and Ayars and Hayley and I brought our plan. And the architect looked at it and he said, ‘Just a minute,’ and he reached over and had a folded piece of paper, set it down, and his plan was so similar to ours,” Groshans said. “We were just sitting there thinking, this is a God thing.”
During a walk-through of the new Western Sky Community Care Center’s building recently, Tim was able to describe many of the aspects of the facility that will be important for functionality, safety, and livability for the residents and efficiency for the staff.
The public is invited to come and see the facility during an open house that has been set for Saturday, March 21 from 1 to 4 p.m., with remarks from dignitaries tentatively scheduled at 2 p.m.
About the building setup, Board President Mark Bottom said, “The facility has a lot of care-driven efficiencies and operational efficiencies. The location of nursing stations, CNA work areas, the kitchen and dining room—it’s all well-thought-out and well-planned.”
Administration Up Front
Along with the reception and waiting areas at the front of the building are all of the administration offices, visible and available for the public, staff, residents and their families, Groshans said.
“The thought process is that if someone has a question, the administration isn’t hidden in the back somewhere, but are out front, visible and available,” Groshans said.
Nursing Station Centrally Located
The next stop in the building’s setup is the nurses station, located in a wide-open space in the middle of the building. Visibility down the two residential hallways is clear, along with visibility to dining and activity areas.
“The nurses can see it all,” Groshans said. “Everything is built around the hub of the nurses station.”
Also centrally located near the middle of the facility are therapy rooms, beauty salon, chapel, and activity/family rooms, he said.
Hallways
Two residential hallways extend off of the nurses station, one to the east and one to the west, with each hall allowing 20 private residential rooms, for a total of 40 rooms. Four of those rooms could accommodate couples, if need be, he said.
Each hall also has its own central supply area. Once supplies are brought to the facility in the receiving area in the back of the building, they are broken down and distributed to each hallway for easier access by staff, which means more efficiency, he said.
“All of the residents’ supplies for each hallway are right in that hallway,” he said. “The thought process is that when the staff is providing care, they won’t have to go very far to get supplies. It makes things more efficient.”
Each hallway has a large bathroom with walk-in bath and toilet with lift assists. The bathrooms also serve as the tornado shelter for each wing, he said, and each of the hallways ends with an outdoor, covered patio.
Groshans explained that each hallway also has its own utility room that powers that hall individually. “So we could lose power to one hall, and the other hall would still have power,” he said. The whole facility is also on a generator, with Groshans saying that if there was a power-outage affecting the town, WSCCC would still be up and running.
Kitchen/Vending
Behind the nurses station is the kitchen, serving area, and vending area, with wide-open views to the dining room for easy serving, he said. The vending area will be accommodated with several things for the residents and staff, including ice cream, pop, popcorn slushies, and other items.
Maintenance/Housekeeping/Storage/Receiving
At the back of the facility are the maintenance, laundry, and housing keeping areas are, along with the electrical room, receiving areas, staff break-rooms and additional storage.
Safety
Besides the wide-open spaces with easy visibility of all areas, the building will also be equipped with a wander-guard system. Residents identified as having a need will wear something similar to a watch, and if they happen to get too close to one of the doors, the system will sense that and lock down the doors until staff can check on the situation to see if it is safe, he said.
Also, available to staff is a button to be able to lock down the entire facility in case of an emergency, and also a button to alert law enforcement or the fire department in the community if help is needed, he said.
The computer system in the building also locks all doors automatically at 10:30 p.m. and opens them up again at 5:45 a.m., he said.
Air Return
Because of the wide-open spaces in the building, air exchange is of vital importance, Groshans said. Ayars and Ayars installed a state-of-the art air-exchange system to continually move fresh air throughout the building. So, for example, each resident’s room gets two air exchanges every hour, while the kitchen, laundry and housekeeping get 10 exchanges every hour, he said.
“This air-exchange system is quite incredible,” Groshans said.
What’s Ahead
As the construction of the building is quickly coming to the end, Groshans and the WSCCC board are moving full-steam ahead in staffing, hoping to open by April 1. An administrator has already been hired for the facility and is set to start February 1, Groshans said.
Applications are now being taken for all positions on WSCCC’s website at https://westernskycccenter.socs.net/ Positions being sought sought are: DNS, MDS, charge nurses, nurses’ aides, medication aides, social services, dietary, laundry, housekeeping and maintenance. WSCCC is not taking any office staff applications at this time.
Those with questions about employment, or questions about living at WSCCC can email Groshans at senior.insight@yahoo.com, or contact any board member. Members of the WSCCC Board are as follows: Mark Bottom, Renae Bottom, Genie Bishop, Chris Loeffler, Steve Loeffler, Diane Hagan and Dan Hughes.
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