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Oak Hills looking for financial help in expansion project

A 3D computer rendering of the new courtyard created through the Oak Hill expansion.

NEW ULM — Oak Hills Living Center is planning to expand to the facility to accommodate community demand.

Oak Hills has gone through multiple expansions in its 64-year history. Oak Hills started in 1958 when it was called Highland Manor. It was created by the community when long-term care was needed in New Ulm. In 1995, the community again rallied to repair and rebrand the facility. It was relocated to its current site and renamed Oak Hills. In 2003, income-based housing was needed for the community to help support the expansion. Now in 2022, Oak Hills needs the community’s help to complete further expansion.

Oak Hills Fund Development Director Wendy Lang explained the reason for the recent development is a two-fold problem. The first problem is growing senior demographics.

Oak Hills has been developing an expansion plan since 2013. Lang said they began tracking referrals, admissions and discharges from assisted living and discovered the community wanted larger spaces than the 425 sqaure-foot studio apartments Oak Hills has available. They also learned some patients had greater care needs. Memory care for dementia patients was a significant need.

A market study, done in 2019, confirmed Oak Hill would need to restructure assisted living, but also showed the senior population in Brown County was going to increase exponentially in the next 20 years.

Lang said many counties would see a decline in seniors over the next 20 years, but Brown County will see significant growth.

Between 2025 and 2050 the number of 84-year-olds in Brown County would increase by 48%. The 85 and older demographic would increase by 34%.

Demographic trends alone were reason enough for Oak Hills to expand. Building costs were the second factor.

In 2019 the state announced plans to change licensure for assisted living facilities.

These changes went into effect Aug. 1, 2021. The expansions planned will be more expensive with the changes to licensure, but Oak Hills could be grandfathered in under the previous licensure if the expansion plans were submitted before Aug. 1. Oak Hills did just that, submitting expansion plans before the deadline. However, this forces Oak Hill to step up its timeline for construction.

Oak Hills must be ready to start construction by July 2022. This will require significant funding. The entire expansion is estimated at $13 million. Oak Hills’ goal is to raise at least 20% ($2.6 million) from the community to start the project. They would like half of the $2.6 million before the project starts.

The reason Oak Hill did not start fundraising earlier was due to the pandemic. Oak Hills was aware of the development deadline in 2019, but the pandemic hitting in 2020 altered plans. There was a hope the state would push back the licensure change from August 2021 because of the pandemic, but the deadline remained unchanged.

Oak Hills is community-owned and governed by an operating board. Oak Hills is pushing the capital campaign now because it is more financially responsible for the community. The plan to start construction this year would save the community money in the long run, but this does leave a shorter time to raise funds.

Oak Hills is working with past donors, the Oak Hills operating board and Oak Hills foundations to help with this capital campaign. Around $525,000 has already been raised.

Currently, Oak Hills has 94 skilled nursing units — 22 dedicated to short-term rehab; 16 private pay assisted living and16 Housing and Urban Development (HUD) units for a total of 126 units.

Money raised by the new capital campaign would pay for 30 new units; 15 will be enhanced assisted living and the other 15 units are memory care. The enhanced assisted living units are hybrids of assisted living and skilled nursing care. Individuals in the enhanced assisted living facilities will be able to maintain the same level of independence, but extra assistance if needed.

The 15 memory care units are a significant development because Oak Hills does not currently have units capable of caring for seniors with dementia or Alzheimers.

The expansion plan is to extend the building to the southeast into the current employee parking lot, expanding the current assisted living section of the building. The existing assisting living area will be renovated. The expansion would allow the creation of two courtyards and a chapel. There will be a shared common area, exercise room, sunroom and bar area.

The new apartments would be one-bedroom and two-bedroom, with some remaining studio apartments. The one-bedroom apartments are between 625 square feet to 700 square feet; two-bedroom apartments are 860 square feet The memory care suits and enhanced assisted living suits will be between 425 square feet to 490 square feet Some of the 460 square feet studio apartments would be retained.

The front entrance would remain the same. Visitors coming through the main entrance would turn left to access the new construction. The chapel would be to the right of the main entrance. There is a plan for a second front entrance on the new assisted living center side.

The first-floor addition will be 20,520.15 square feet with 10,442.06 square feet of renovations. The second-floor addition will be 18,011.57 square feet with 5,762.51 square feet of renovations.

For further information on the Oak Hill expansion, visit the website at oakhillsnewulm.com. A link on the home page titled Growing Our Tomorrow will give additional information. A video showing a 3D computer rendering of the expansion is also available on the site. A short video of the expansion complete with the floor plan is available on the Oak Hills Memorial Foundation Facebook page.

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