Good Samaritan in Battle Lake will expand

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Good Samaritan complex in Battle Lake, which in 2007 completed a new housing with services facility, plans to expand its existing nursing home which currently has 55 residents. Architects are working on the project, with the start of construction scheduled for Sept. 1.

Similar to Pioneer Retirement Community in Fergus Falls, Good Samaritan in Battle Lake needed to apply for a moratorium exception from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to proceed.

“We’re thrilled with the state’s approval and our plans to add on to two of our nursing home wings, allowing for 24 new private rooms for individuals,” Battle Lake Good Samaritan nursing home Administrator Jim Wolf said. “The days of double occupancy in nursing home rooms are ending. Residents want privacy for a variety of reasons.”

There are 40 Good Sam facilities located in Minnesota, and other nearby centers are located in Pelican Rapids, Barnesville, Hoffman and Glenwood. The 55-bed Good Sam nursing home in Battle Lake was built in 1975.

Plans call for 16 new single rooms off one wing and eight new ones to be built off a second wing at the Good Sam nursing home in Battle Lake. This is being done, Wolf said, with the neighborhood concept in mind.

“Each neighborhood will have a maximum of 20 people,” Wolf said, “with its own dining room, fireplace and other amenities. With this addition, we are moving away from a hospital model.”

Each new room will be 280 square feet in size, including bathroom and shower. All with be designed for single occupancy with the exception of two rooms to be built for double occupancy. One amenity will be dispensation of medications right from the privacy of a resident’s room.

Rehab services will be provided to short-stay residents who are there following an elective surgery or other physical needs.

Some rooms, said Wolf, will be held in reserve for people opting to stay at Good Sam from one to three weeks. Examples would be those who’ve just had surgery, and who can take advantage of Good Sam’s physical therapy programs on site.

“The State of Minnesota recognizes that today’s consumers want more choices in their living arrangements,” Wolf said. “When people come here to Good Sam to live, it’s not only physical constraints that are factors in their decisions. One also has to keep in mind the psychological, social and spiritual needs of an individual.”

In reference to the latter need — spiritual — Wolf said the concept of new rooms with single occupancy will allow for a resident and spiritual advisor to have some privacy.

The addition also calls for the establishment of a bariatric room and a Hospice room, the latter to be used for a person in the final stages of life. That room will be spacious enough for close family members to spend the night.

“Otter Tail County has one of the highest percentages of senior citizens in the state of Minnesota, and we need to prepare for more senior housing options,” Wolf said. “Our new expansions will support that endeavor.”