Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 20, 1995 TAG: 9507200020
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
David Murray, Warm Hearth's director of development and marketing, said Tuesday the nonprofit residential community for the elderly is passing up an Aug. 1 filing deadline to complete a fund-raising feasibility study and the third version of blueprints for the project.
During the fund-raising study, the possibility arose of a partnership between Warm Hearth and either the for-profit Montgomery Regional Hospital, part of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., or the nonprofit Carilion Health System. The ideas came up when Warm Hearth spoke to local hospitals about fund raising for the new nursing center, but Warm Hearth did not propose the concept, Murray said.
Columbia and Carilion are competing for permission to build new hospitals in Radford and in other aspects of the New River Valley's health care market. No decisions have been reached on possible joint efforts, Murray said, which would help Warm Hearth raise the capital to build the nursing home.
"Partnership has been discussed," Murray said. "I can't really say any more than that except that I think the hospitals are interested in the possibilities behind a partnership. Our concern is that whatever happens, Warm Hearth does not sacrifice its mission and its vision."
Last winter the General Assembly and Gov. George Allen granted Warm Hearth Village a rare exception to the state's ban on the licensing of new nursing home beds. Aug. 1 would have been the Blacksburg-area community's first chance to apply for a certificate of public need from the state. Its next chance is Oct. 1.
Such a certificate is necessary before construction can begin.
The New River Valley has an average occupancy rate for nursing home beds of 93.2 percent, close to the state average, according to Paul Parker, director of the Office of Resources Development for the Virginia Department of Health.
Although several other planning regions show a greater need, Parker said, the state looks favorably on proposals such as Warm Hearth's where a retirement community wants to develop a nursing home to care for its own residential population. "We're supportive of that concept."
The regulatory review - including a recommendation from a regional citizens' panel and a final decision by the state health commissioner - usually takes a year or more.
"We've been filling out the thick form from the state," Murray said. "We're going to start with the October cycle."
Warm Hearth lobbied for the move because it contends market conditions have changed since the state's 1988 ban, which legislators put into effect because of a statewide surplus of nursing home beds. Today, Warm Hearth says, state studies show New River Valley nursing home beds are nearing capacity.
Warm Hearth's leadership also wants to fulfill the third portion of its mission. The first two phases include an independent living center and an assisted living center, for elderly who need little or some care. Now, some of the clients who moved into Warm Hearth in its early years need nursing home care, but in some cases must leave the New River Valley to receive it.
Warm Hearth's planned nursing center is to include space for health care research and teaching by faculty and students of Virginia Tech, Radford University and New River Community College. Eventually, Warm Hearth hopes to operate a gerontology center with the three schools, adjacent to the nursing center.
The fund-raising feasibility study, expected to be completed by month's end, also will look at whether Warm Hearth should go ahead with another, related project adjacent to the nursing home: a special, long-term care pavilion for Alzheimer's disease patients. That facility would not require a certificate of need from the state health commissioner. Instead, Warm Hearth would seek licensing through the state Department of Social Services.
Murray said Warm Hearth should have more details on its overall plans for what it is calling a "Health and Wellness Campus" by the end of August.
by CNB