Glenhaven to hold ground breaking ceremony for new nursing facility April 4

GLENWOOD CITY — A dream is about to become reality.

Glenhaven will launch the construction of its new nursing home facility with a public ground breaking ceremony on Thursday, April 4 at 4:00 p.m.

The ceremony will take place outside the west end of the current building. If the weather is not suitable, everything will be held in the lobby. Dignitaries from the community as well as the county and state will be present. Afterwards, there will be heavy hors d’oeuvres served for the guests as well.

 The actual ground breaking for the construction will take place the following week. Currently,  bids are still being placed for construction companies, excavators, designers, and subcontractors.

Glenhaven Administrator, Dave Prissel, shared that those contractors that wished to put their bids in had until March 12. The bids will be opened on March 13.

Recently, the Glenhaven Board of Directors agreed to donate the extra, usable sand and soil to be hauled to the Glenwood City School District for the upcoming projects that will take place there this summer.

To date, Glenhaven has raised five percent of the community money needed to fund the 50,000 plus square foot new construction and remodeling of the current facility. The capital campaign is scheduled for a three-year commitment from the community.

This additional fundraising along with donations will aid, over time, in the construction of a pharmacy, daycare, cafe and gardens that will all be part of the new building, which will be attached to the west end of Glenhaven’s current nursing facility.

The emphasis of the new facillity is that it will be “person-centered”. Each of the 44 new rooms, split equally between four households, will provide residents with the privacy as well as every necessity that they once enjoyed in their own homes before moving into Glenhaven.

The concept of being “person-centered” is emphasized in excerpts from “In Pursuit of the Sunbeam: A Practical Guide to Transformation from Institution to Household.”

This means the people who live there will direct their own lives, individually and collectively.

The boundaries of the person and his/her home are clear and respected as a matter of course.

Grace, a shared sense of what is sacred about the house and its people, is deeply valued, consciously created and preserved. Ritual, spontaneity, friendship, spirituality, celebration, recreation, choice, interdependence, art and humor are all manifestations of a culture of grace.

If a resident wants to sleep in, they can. If the resident wants to stay up because they are a night owl, they can. The resident can choose who visits their “home” and they can choose for themselves what activities they wish to do, just as life was before the transition.

Construction of the new building is expected to take about 12 months. Once complete, residents will be moved and remodeling of the current facility into a Community Based Residential Facility (CBRF) will begin.

Anyone who has questions about any aspect of Glenhaven’s new care facility or renovation, or anyone who would like to make a donation, is encouraged to call Glenhaven at (715) 265-4555 or email Dave Prissel at d.prissel@glenhaveninc.com.