St. Mark’s Lutheran Home took an early step toward a potential project to remodel the facility to add memory care rooms and renovate some existing rooms.

The Mower County Board of Commissioners agreed to support St. Mark’s plans to de-license 15 nursing home beds so space can be concerted to a memory care wing and assisted living apartments.

“The de-licensure of 15 beds is the first step in a planned building improvement project, and that’s going to address just an outdated building, and we have very few common areas for dining and recreation, and updating resident room cabinetry and other amenities that will improve the resident care and the quality of life,” said St. Mark’s Administrator Christine Harris.

The St. Mark’s board is looking into a plan to reconfigure the existing facilities to open memory care rooms and increase the number of assisted living rooms.

The potential project will adapt St. Mark’s to better fit the trend of how retirement home facilities operate. Harris said this shift sees more people living in assisted living rooms and an increased demand for memory care rooms.

St. Marks currently has 121 licensed skilled care beds, 16 rehabilitation beds, 15 assisted living apartments and 46 independent living apartments. The potential change would include 15 of the 121 nursing home beds. Fourteen double rooms would be converted to private rooms, and one triple room would be converted to a double room.

The commissioners decided to send a letter of recommendation supporting St. Mark’s by a 4 to 1 vote. However, some of the commissioners were hesitant concerning the de-licensing of the 15 beds. They spoke of their past experiences with such requests and the potential need for such beds as the baby boomers age.

Harris stressed this move wouldn’t necessarily change the number of residents they serve, just how they serve them.

“In the end, we would be serving about the same number of people — about 160 people,” Harris said.

“It might shrink in one area, but it’s compensated in another,” she added.

If the need arises for more nursing home beds, Harris said St. Mark’s could buy beds de-licensed by other facilities.

Despite the commissioners concerns, Harris said St. Mark’s has a need for memory care rooms. Each resident is scored on a level of care when admitted to the nursing home. About 35 residents are currently scored as having a memory care problem, and Harris said it’s important to develop appropriate areas for them.

Harris said some people choose another facility because they don’t have memory care.

Without the support from the commissioners, Harris said it would be difficult for St. Mark’s to de-license the beds, which would make it very difficult to remodel and develop memory care rooms.

Harris said it’s a good time to de-license the beds because no residents would need to be moved since there are empty beds.

County and state goals and a study of residents show that the industry is favoring single rooms over shared rooms, Harris said.

When working with guardianship cases, Mower County Attorney Kristen Nelsen said she’s seen a great need for more memory care facilities.

St. Mark’s has picked a contractor and architect for the remodeling project, Harris said. At this time, the potential project will consist of renovations to the existing facilities; there will be no new construction.

The move could affect the staff at St. Mark’s, but Harris said they currently have trouble finding qualified staff and many employees frequently work overtime.

St. Mark’s has been working on this project for about a year, and the first meeting to develop a model for the project will be held near the end of November, Harris said. She said the project is at the point where St. Mark’s will need to make a decision to proceed or table the project.