More then 50 people turned out on Tuesday afternoon, May 7, at the Cook County Senior Center to listen to a presentation about the Carefree Living facility in Silver Bay owned and operated by Spectrum Homecare. Sue Brandvig Spies (standing up front) is director of the Silver Bay facility. She and Jon Monacelli, an executive of Spectrum, gave a brief overview of the company and what it offers. The audience was largely supportive of the venture and asked many questions of Brandvig Spies and Monacelli. What’s next? Monacelli said his company has no projects planned for 2014 or 2015, so maybe Cook County could be in the mix to get a Carefree Living Center.
More than 50 people turned out to the Cook County Senior Center on Tuesday, May 7 to listen to Jon Monacelli, vice-president of financing and planning for Spectrum Homecare and Sue Brandvig Spies, RN, who is facilities manager at the Silver Bay Carefree Living Center.
There was a brief moment of disappointment when Monacelli told the crowd, “We aren’t here to talk about bringing a facility to Cook County. We are here to talk about what has been happening in Silver Bay.”
Spectrum Health Companies own and operate carefree assisted living facilities throughout Minnesota. Spectrum provides health and personal care services to people of all ages in all types of residential settings with more than 500 employees in 14 communities. In the Northland they have businesses in Duluth, Silver Bay, Ely, Cook, Babbitt, Grand Rapids, and Virginia and are currently building one in Orr.
In Silver Bay, said Brandvig Spies, Spectrum has a Carefree Living facility that has room for 34 assisted living and memory care residents.
“Right now we have 22 people in assisted living and five in memory care rooms,” Brandvig Spies said.
“Some people are independent. They don’t need us to do anything for them. Maybe they didn’t want to mow the lawn or shovel the snow anymore, I don’t know. But this is their home now. And some just need some assistance with grooming, bathing, etc., while others need more help,” said Brandvig Spies.
The apartments are heated, air conditioned and come with cable TV, but are unfurnished. While most apartments are for single residents, four of them are set up for couples.
When asked what was included, Brandvig Spies said the facility had 24-hour staffing, offered skilled nurses visits, would help administer medications, including injections, and would help with bathing, grooming, dressing and transfers if need be. Three meals and three snacks per day are available and an activity program is also available for residents.
Residents also have access to physical therapy and occupational therapy and skilled nursing services in Silver Bay.
For memory care patients the building is secured, said Brandvig Spies, adding, “In addition, we offer feeding, personal care, special diets, help with medications and specialized memory care to residents.”
Costs vary from a base rate of $2,525 per month and go up dependent upon the level of care needed, said Brandvig Spies.
Residents have to provide their own transportation and have to do their own shopping. Pets are allowed, said Brandvig Spies, “if you can take care of it.”
Most residents are from Silver Bay. “They lived here and maybe retired some place else but now want to come home,” said Brandvig Spies.
Gina Nelson Schliep, from Schroeder, whose mother is living in the Carefree Facility in Silver Bay, said, “She loves it there. But I wish we had one here in Grand Marais.”
It was a comment repeated by many of the people in the room. When asked what it would take to get a Carefree Living Center in Grand Marais, Monacelli said that first a market analysis would have to be done to establish whether there was a need for one to be built.
“Who would pay for that?” asked one person in the audience.
“Every community we have been in, the city or the hospital has paid for that study,” said Monacelli.
Additionally, said Monacelli, the city or the hospital would offer land or offer to pay for infrastructure costs. Grants and loans from the Iron Range Resources Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB), and other agencies are also usually available, but again, need the support of the community to help secure them, said Monacelli.
When asked what Spectrum’s schedule was, Monacelli said that there were no projects on the board for 2014 or 2015.
“There seems to be a lot of interest here. We’re not saying no. We’ll take a look down the road, but it’s up to the community to respond,” said Monacelli.
When the meeting ended there seemed to be a general consensus that more needed to be done to get the attention of Spectrum Homecare. A year ago Spectrum approached the city of Grand Marais with interest in building a facility in Grand Marais and got a cool reception. After the meeting, it was clear that people in the community are warming up to the idea of a Carefree Living Facility being built in Grand Marais, but as Monacelli said, “I have heard that you need a facility and that you don’t need a facility. It can’t be both ways.”
Leave a Reply