August 27, 2019 3:40am
(WGTD)---Kenosha is about to lose one of its premiere nursing homes.
St. Joseph's Home and Rehabilitation Center---and---Brookside Care Center--- have long been the considered the best---and---most sought after---nursing homes in Kenosha.
Now---St. Joseph’s has decided to get out of the 24-hour, skilled care nursing home business. The 90-unit nursing home facility---located on 13-acres of land at 9244-29th Avenue---will soon be transitioning its nursing home into a community-based residential facility---or---a CBRF. It’s not closing---it is just changing its level of service. A CBRF is an assisted living facility where residents receive care---treatment---or---services---that are above the level of room and board---but---include a maximum of just three hours per week of nursing care per resident.
Donna Cooper---the business manager for St. Joseph’s---explained their reasoning for the change, "Behind the change is the need for this in the community. People that fall between a skilled facility and regular facilities...will be cared for and cared for well."
Lynda Bogdala---the Administrator of Brookside Care Center---the Kenosha County-operated skilled care facility on Washington Road---says St. Joseph’s move is part of a nationwide trend due to the paucity of government reimbursement to cover the needs of complex patients, "The financial stability is not capable of handling the complex residents we are now seeing...and we are finding that many facilities throughout the state have had to close their doors or...choose to go to assisted living for better financial stability."
Bogdala added that it remains to be seen what impact the closing of St. Joseph’s skilled care nursing home will have on Brookside, "...we'll play it day-by-day and hope we can accommodate everybody." She said there are no plans right now involving expansion of Brookside.
This change does NOT affect the independent living apartments at The Villa on the St. Joseph Campus.
-0-