Federal funding keeps nursing home afloat

McCOOK, Neb. — Thanks to federal stimulus funding, Hillcrest Nursing Home is weathering the COVID-19 pandemic despite a drop in census.

The nursing home received $1.3 million in federal CARES stimulus funding and in PPE (personal protective equipment) forgivable loans, said Randy Dean, Hillcrest Board of Trustee. Of that, $77,000 has been spent on PPE, such as testing kits, masks and gowns, he told the Gazette.

The funding has also bolstered sagging revenue, due to the population at the facility dropping. Currently, 62 patients are at Hillcrest, from it’s usual 90 or so patients, Dean told the Gazette after the Hillcrest Board of Trustee meeting Wednesday morning. Total profits from the last fiscal year, that factors in stimulus funding, came to $163,000, according to Steve Placker, a Grand Island, Neb., auditor who reviewed year-end-totals with board members. Net income loss for the third quarter was $5,000 under what was budgeted, which is better than expected, Dean said. Expenditures were lower in the third quarter in every department except for administration, due to COVID-19 documentation, he said.

The 100-bed facility is owned by the county but operates from its own revenue. The economic shut-down earlier this year resulted in a suspension of elective surgeries such as hip and knee replacements at the hospital and while those surgeries are now allowed, the number of them are still below pre-pandemic levels.

Due to the lack of short-term stays from patients recuperating from those elective surgeries, another source of funding, Medicare, was lost to the facility. Income sources of the current population are 21 from private-pay, 35 from Medicaid, three from Medicare and two from the Veteran Administration.

HIllcrest has been rigorous in keeping COVID-19 at bay and has been mostly successful, with two employees testing positive for the virus, one earlier this year and another this week. One resident at the nursing home tested positive earlier this year despite not showing symptoms and has since recovered.

“Knock wood, we’ve been touched by COVID but not hit by it,” said Hillcrest administrator James Foster at Wednesday’s meeting.

Much of that has to do with employees being “very diligent in what they do,” he said. Everyone one at the facility is tested twice a week. Hillcrest has 160 employees, according to its website.

Staff has been extremely cautious, Dean told the Gazette, by wearing masks, gowns, N95 masks and shields. In addition, every time a staff member exits a room and goes into another room, the previous gown is discarded and a new one is put on. Temperatures are checked daily.

Other measures in place include employees staying home if they show symptoms of the disease before being tested. Employees who are quarantined for two weeks because of a positive diagnosis or stay home because of showing symptoms are still paid, Foster said at the meeting.

The facility was briefly opened this summer so family members could visit, behind glass doors and with other restrictions in place; however, it’s closed now due to rising coronavirus cases in the community. Red Willow County is currently a hotspot for community spread, according to the latest press release from the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department, with 74 new cases from Oct. 20 to 26.

Big Give Nov. 5

Hillcrest is one of the entities participating in the “Big Give” on Thursday, Nov. 5. This year, people can donate without leaving their car, by using a drive-through drop-off. The donation form is available on the Big Give website (biggivemccook.org), so that people can print the form, put their donation in an envelope and drop it off at the Hillcrest driveway without contact. Throughout the day, “power hours” are assigned to various locations, where donations are randomly drawn and matched 1:1, doubling the amount donated.