Former Director of HLRC clarifies some issues

Dear Editor,

As a former director of the Hi-Line Retirement Center and after attending the meeting I have a few comments and questions. If the money is raised as hoped for, who will be in charge of how the money is spent? I would hope it would be handled by the full hospital and nursing home boards and not by one person.

I have heard a lot of comments by people who have not been to the HLRC or to a board meeting. Go to a meeting. Both sides need to be heard. Does the public know of the services offered? Skilled care, where you get almost total care. Assisted living, you have to be able to do some things on your own but is half as much or less than skilled, you get help with meds and cleaning. If you come in from the hospital you may qualify for medicare for a short time. Apartments are your responsibility, just like one downtown. You can get meals in the dining room, but you have to pay for them.

When we decided to build the new assisted living, the State of Montana said we had to remodel the kitchen and we decided if we got additional residents it would help pay for the kitchen. The census went down so much it didn't work. The census did come back for a while and then went back down. When you lose several residents in a month or two it really hurts.

Another thing, as people are convinced they need to go on medicaid (welfare) and that has not helped the situation. Medicaid reimbursement has gone up very little in the last few years, not nearly as much as costs for labor, meds, food, fuel, repairs and other costs. That is why costs go up so much for private pay.

Just some thoughts.

Ted Kelly

Malta