Pleasantview projects coming to fruition

KALONA — Staff and residents at Pleasantview Home in Kalona expect big things throughout 2023, with the first round of major facility changes anticipated before spring, and others lined up over the next two years.

The myriad projects are funded by a loan from the USDA, which Pleasantview Director of Advancement Larry Swartzendruber said totaled in the range of $15-$18 million. The senior care campus expects to keep fundraising efforts going into the foreseeable future as the money is paid off.

“We were able to secure a loan, but we’ve got to pay off that loan,” Swartzendruber said. “I don’t think that this community likes debt. Our constituents are such that, they don’t like to see us go in the hole. And so, I think over the course of the next several years, there will continue to be support for the project and for the campaign.”

At the top of the project list are 28 new assisted living apartments. Swartzendruber said the option would cater to residents strained by independent living, but who did not yet need the intensive care of round-the-clock nursing.

Construction for the apartments knocked out walls and remodeled the previous east wing of the campus’ central, main building. The spaces are tentatively set to open for residents in June.

"That’s the middle step between independent living and full nursing care,“ Swartzendruber said. ”They need help with their medications, they need somebody else to cook for them … we had people that were in independent living, and they were having to go off-campus to get their assisted living needs met. They weren’t quite advanced enough to go into full nursing care, but they couldn’t stay in independent living either. It’s just a piece along the spectrum.“

Next up is a dedicated memory care facility. While Pleasantview offers nursing care already, Swartzendruber said some residents with severe conditions — especially forms of dementia — needed even more specialized care in a secured area. Those 16 rooms with a shared courtyard are expected to start taking residents in July.

"The ones in memory care, some of the most advanced ones are unsure of where they’re at,“ he said. ”They’re very confused, they may not be able to speak anymore. They may wander the halls and maybe go into someone else’s room or something that’s not ideal … they just need more assistance and each year.“

Swartzendruber said the need for assisted living and memory care were the starting point for the broader set of projects now in motion.

“Memory care has been talked about for, literally, more than 40 years,” he said. “And then we just kept realizing and kept noticing that people were leaving campus. They’d be at independent living, and then they’d have to go elsewhere to get their assisted living, and so those two things were in the original plan. And it just kind of snowballed from there.”

Before those living spaces open, the establishment plans to add a new (and larger) “Friendship Center,” more oriented toward communitywide events than the current gathering space. The old center will be converted into a physical therapy room.

The new center expected to open soonest of any project, sometime in February according to Swartzendruber.

"We realize that there is a need in the community for more space for senior citizens,“ he said. ”So we’re partnering with the city to help make that happen … The city of Wellman has a senior dining facility, and a number of our residents go up there every Wednesday for lunch. So that’s just another way to keep them on campus, but also serve the community as well.

“Our independent living residents are going to have first priority to schedule things, and it’s going to be free to them, but for the community, we’ll charge something. It will have gathering space for over 100 people.”

With that set of changes complete, Swartzendruber said would adjust other parts of the campus to align with the new buildings. The kitchen and in-house dining room are planned to move to a more central location, the current ambulance entrance will relocate and make room for a small bistro, and around six skilled nursing apartments are in the works elsewhere in the facility.

That next round of construction is projected to stretch well into next year.

“It’s a number of things that are long overdue,” Swartzendruber said. “It’s been a long, tedious process, but we’re scheduled to have everything completed by sometime late in 2024, with various aspects of it opening up prior to that.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com