The southwest Nebraska community of Grant has done something remarkable. It raised $3 million to open its own nursing home, Western Sky.
Like many rural communities, the Perkins County town of about 1,200 people has seen health care services dwindle over the years. It lost its previous nursing home, Golden Ours, about four years ago in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mark Bottom, one of Western Sky’s founding board members, said after the town's old nursing home shuttered, the community quickly decided to take matters into its own hands.
“That hospital was hit hard when COVID came through," he said. "The census dropped dramatically, and with a nursing shortage, they closed in 2022. We immediately worked with them to keep the licenses here.”
Grant managed to keep not only most of the bed licenses from Golden Ours, but with help from the local hospital, had land for a new facility donated as well.
The project follows a different model than the defunct nursing home. Golden Ours was a for-profit institution, and Western Sky is a nonprofit that focuses exclusively on long-term nursing care.
According to Bottom, that combination could make Western Sky more sustainable in the long run, as staff won’t be stretched so thin.
“Their staffing was not quite as efficient as what we'll be able to do,” he said of the old home. “And they were a for-profit operation. If we make a buck, we've done good, truly. Because we're here just to provide the care. And I think that's a big difference.”
The $3 million started as seed money, with the USDA granting about $13 million of rural development money for help with construction. Bottom said the community finished the hospital on time and under budget.
Staffing has typically been an issue for rural health care centers, but Western Sky is drawing on a labor pool larger than just Perkins County. Recent hires are commuting from Ogallala, 20 minutes north of Grant, and the surrounding area.
They’re also getting help from even farther away. Seth Carruthers has been living in St. Louis until recently. He had family connections in the Nebraska community and moved back to work at the hospital.
“The community engagement has been an amazing attraction for me,” he said. “For the community to put all these resources together, at the size and scale that it is, is remarkable.”
Western Sky will have just over 40 beds. That’s a big deal for the home, because it comes close to the previous hospital’s bed count.
Bottom said the number of bed licenses was initially lower, but smart building and negotiation with the USDA increased that number by 10%.
“The USDA said at first, ‘We're going to only let you keep 40 of the 50 licenses that the hospital had,’” he said. “Then we got construction going, and some of the rooms became double rooms, and the USDA said we could move that number to 44.”
The increased bedspace won’t be wasted, either. Bottom said the community need for Western Sky’s services has been apparent even before the home’s grand opening.
“We're sitting with 25 people, and we're not even open,” Bottom said. “People are saying, ‘Please, when you open, we have a resident we'd like to move in or have come stay at your facility.’ So obviously not all of those will happen right away, but the need and the desire is here for sure.”
Western Sky plans to start accepting residents in April.