STEVENS POINT – Dozens of local residents and community leaders gathered June 25 to celebrate the rebranding of the former county-owned skilled nursing facility.
Timber Ridge Health and Rehabilitation was revealed as the new name of the Portage County Health Care Center, or the formerly county-owned skilled nursing facility sold by the Portage County Board with a 15-10 vote in a regular meeting in December.
“I know the transition from the county to Timber [Ridge] has been a long process and a lot of different bumps on the road,” Nicolas Riggs, Timber Ridge general manager, said during the June 25 ribbon cutting event.
The company, which is a subsidiary of California-based Ensign Group, aims to continue with similar community outreach and involvement as was seen in the leadup to the ownership transition, Riggs said.
Riggs has “big shoes” to fill, he said, as he was selected to take on primary management of the skilled nursing facility from longtime Portage County Health Care Center administrator Marcia McDonald, who is continuing in a new position with the company as the community relations coordinator.
“You may not have as big [of a] problem filling Marcia’s shoes, the big challenge is going to be filling her heart because Marcia has the biggest heart in Portage County,” Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza said during the event.
What has changed since Timber Ridge gained ownership on Feb. 1
Following the County Board vote in December, final preparations were conducted before a sale was finalized on Feb. 1, according to a timeline shared in the weeks leading up to the board’s vote.
A few significant changes in the building include the opening of one closed wing, which allowed the resident population to increase from about 32 to about 42; the hiring of about 35 nursing department staff, including a certified nursing assistant and medical technician position; and the moving of therapy, housekeeping and laundry, and dietary services in-house, Riggs said.
Specific building improvements made since the change in ownership include new WiFi and the placement of new phone and cable television lines to each room, which gave residents new, more reliable phones and improved connectivity; a new medical records system and nursing computer system that is easier to use, communicates better with the hospital, and improves continuity of care; and new paint, artwork and freshly cleaned floors that improve the aesthetics for residents, Riggs said.
In the next couple of weeks, work on removing the building’s original boilers will begin as improvements to the building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning units continues, Riggs explained. Air handlers currently on the roof are being updated with gas lines so they can also provide heat and modern, more-energy-efficient boilers will be installed.
Longer term projects include replacing the building’s windows in the next five years, updating the electrical system to increase the number of outlets in each room, and changing some existing shared bathrooms to private bathrooms, Riggs said.
Additionally, a future reopening of another closed wing could add up to 22 rooms to the facility, which would allow the building’s resident population to increase to the low 80s, Amy Brauer, Clintonville-based market leader with Ensign, told a Stevens Point Journal reporter.
Private ownership allows ‘vision’ of facility to become reality
Only one employee left by their own choice following the skilled nursing facility’s change in ownership in February, which left residents with employees who had several decades of experience remaining in their familiar positions.
McDonald said residents felt “security” that their needs and desires were attended to through the sale process.
“That is a huge tribute to Marcia and her team [before the sale] and then our partnership along the way,” Brauer said.
“Everybody felt very loved here. That is her passion, that is her heart, and that is things that you don’t see in the workforce as much as you should anymore,” Brauer added about McDonald’s management of the facility.
Ensign’s network of about 399 facilities across the United States, including five in Wisconsin, gives Timber Ridge access to resources and guidance that were not previously available under Portage County’s ownership, McDonald said.
“We were a silo before and now we have buildings that we can share troubles and good things with,” McDonald said.
McDonald said she had developed a list of improvements over the last 10 years that “the county was not agile enough” to help her implement but Ensign was able to address many of them within just four months.
“From the computer system to the handheld phones to the new décor, it’s been from the heart,” McDonald said of improvements made so far under Ensign’s ownership.
What else is there to know?
Besides the hiring of about 35 nursing department staff, the facility has also hired 10-12 new people in the dietary department, six or seven in housekeeping and laundry, two “really good” maintenance technicians, and high school-aged young people to do lawn care, Riggs said.
Residents report favorability toward the new food system as they have more say in the foods offered and more choices, Riggs said.
McDonald will continue in her new position to do what she does best, which is caring for the community, she said.
“People say that you can tell a lot about a community or a society by the way they treat their most vulnerable and we’re experiencing that here,” Wiza said during the ribbon cutting. “The care that we expect and that [Timber Ridge is] going to provide is something that we’re going to be able to build foundationally on for generations to come.”
Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Contact him at epfantz@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: What’s changed at former Portage County Health Care Center since sale?
Reporting by Erik Pfantz, Stevens Point Journal / Stevens Point Journal
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By Erik Pfantz, Stevens Point Journal | USA TODAY Network
