ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605240038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
Warm Hearth Village formally applied this week with the Virginia Department of Health to build a 60-bed nursing home.
An application for a certificate of public need, which is necessary before any construction can begin, has been submitted along with plans for the nursing home. A 120-day review of the application will begin July 10. That effort includes the state and the Southwest Virginia Health Systems Agency, a local nonprofit entity that has about 60 days to make recommendations.
Ultimately, the state health commissioner will decide whether Warm Hearth can build the nursing home. That decision is expected in November.
In the late 1980s, the state declared a moratorium on new nursing home construction because of a surplus of facilities. But the General Assembly, with Gov. George Allen's consent, granted an exception to Warm Hearth in 1995 following a major local lobbying effort.
Since then, Warm Hearth has been conducting studies and preparing for the certificate of public need application. Now that its plans have been submitted, Warm Hearth has released details about the proposed nursing center's design.
The 57,457-square-foot center would have 12 private rooms and 24 semiprivate rooms. The semiprivate rooms would have a common entrance and bath but a center wall to separate the beds on either side.
Physical, speech and occupational therapies will be offered in a special therapy wing. Nearby, there will be a teaching section for faculty and students of Virginia Tech, Radford University and New River Community College, which is part of the Warm Hearth Gerontology Center. The institutions formed the center in 1994 to conduct research and teaching programs on issues of aging and long-term health care.
"We're all very pleased and excited about this new model," said John Sankey, Warm Hearth's chief executive officer in a news release. "It was well worth the time and effort. Our volunteers deserve a great deal of credit for their leadership and participation in this project."
The center is projected to cost $7.3 million, minus financing costs, and will be paid for with a combination of tax-exempt bonds, private fund raising and other sources of equity capital, a news release said.
A capital campaign will begin later this year, though the Warm Hearth Foundation already has started raising money through its annual fund program.
The nursing home would be part of a retirement community, which already includes independent-living town homes and apartments and an assisted-care facility.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: This is an architect's rendering of the proposedby CNBnursing center at Warm Hearth Village. The left side of the picture
represents the first phase of the project