Good Samaritan Opens Nursing Home

The hallways at the former Valleycrest nursing home on East Mission Avenue are no longer silent, the rooms no longer empty.

This week, the once-troubled facility woke from an eight-month blackout, admitting its first four residents since the federal government shut down the nursing home last fall.

Along with the smell of new paint in the building comes a new owner, the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society and a new name: The Good Samaritan Center for Health and Rehabilitation on Mission Avenue. The society also owns the Spokane Valley Good Samaritan Village nursing home, which opened in 1958.

The non-profit organization has spent months getting its new facility ready and administrator Camilla Mounts can’t wait to get people in.

She isn’t the only one.

There are 30 people on a waiting list, many of whom resided in the home before it was ordered closed in September.

“They want to come back. This is home to them. Many want the same room,” Mounts said.

Under its previous owner, Milwaukee-based Unicare Homes Inc., the Valley nursing home was closed by the federal government, which cited repeated instances of poor care and failure to protect residents from accidental injuries.

The Good Samaritan Society purchased the building in January and has been polishing it since. One wing is getting a $200,000 remodel.

When the facility is up to full speed it will be able to house 130 residents for long-term nursing home care, physical rehabilitation services, Medicare stays and subacute care services. Subacute care is for people too sick to go home, but not needing the full services of a hospital.

For the next couple of weeks, the center is only allowed to take in 10 people. Then state officials will make a surprise inspection. If the center passes muster, it will be certified.

“Then away we go,” said Mounts who hopes to have a grand opening in July. In 12 months she hopes to have about 100 residents.

After certification, the center will admit only five or six new residents a week. That small number is due to the eight hours of paperwork staff must complete for each new resident, Mounts said.

Currently, there are about 40 staff members working. When the facility is at full capacity, there will be roughly 200, Mounts said.

, DataTimes