Board continues assisted living facility discussion

SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Hospital District Board continued their discussion regarding an assisted living facility in Seeley Lake at their Aug. 9 meeting. They also discussed the proper way to raise concerns regarding Partnership Health Center’s policies, procedures, treatment or staff.

Trustee Terryl Bartlett said that she had reconnected with BeeHive Homes owner Ty Harding following his presentation at their April meeting. She felt, based on his presentation, the board could either move forward or end the discussion due to lack of feasibility. The board agreed there are still a lot of questions to explore, including the non-profit versus for-profit models, and they need more direction but do not want to see the conversation end.

Trustee Walt Hill felt there is a need for some type of assisted living facility in Seeley Lake. He would like to continue to explore avenues and see if there is a sufficient population. After talking to people, he feels there is a greater need than the demographics actually show.

Bartlett agreed. She felt that they should explore a smaller facility with the ability to expand since things operate differently in Seeley Lake than in Missoula. However, she is unsure if they have the ability to “think smaller.”

Hill said the concern is labor, costs and 24-hour care. He felt like the facility is not as much of a stumbling block as staffing it sufficiently.

In April, Harding said a 10-bed model requires 30-man hours per day. That is $600 per day for a full setting which is $219,000 annually for staffing costs. If eight people paid $50,000 per year that is $400,000.

“Regardless of how many residents you have, there are at least 24-man hours that are required to operate that one setting whether it is two or 10,” Harding said. “In order to make the bottom line work, those staffing costs should not exceed 40%. The only way to address that is increase rent.”

Philippus-Palm questioned if they couldn’t start with a smaller center but not offer 24-hour care and build up eventually to a long-term care facility. If they could start by meeting some of the needs and then have a three, five and 10-year plan.

The board agreed to continue conversations within the community, including specifically reaching out to the Seeley Lake Community Foundation and Missoula Aging Services, to provide input, brainstorm ideas and/or could help find more resources to bring to the discussion.

“This topic has been a struggle but it has been needed,” said Chair Twyla Johnson. “If we could get some creative minds together and figure out a creative starting point, I think that would help everyone.”

The board will continue to discuss this at their monthly board meetings. The Seeley-Swan Medical Center Foundation Board is also very interested in exploring options so they will discuss it as well. Johnson reappointed Bartlett and Suzanne Philippus-Palm to continue serving on the Foundation Board.

The District Board also heard concerns from board members regarding Partnership Health Centers’ (PHC) scheduling and treatment. Johnson advised that the board has no control over these matters and discussing procedural issues or staff concerns as a board is not appropriate. Instead they should be brought to PHC directly or discussed with Seeley-Swan Medical Center Clinic Manager Georgiann McCoy.

Following the meeting, the Pathfinder reached out to McCoy to find out how the public can provide feedback to PHC. McCoy highlighted several ways:

1. Call the Seeley-Swan Medical Center 406-677-2277 and ask for McCoy directly. If she does not have the answer to a question or concern, she said she will research the question and get back to the caller with an answer.

2. Visit https://www.partnershiphealthcenter.org/contact-us.html. Scroll until the heading “Provide Feedback.” Complete the form and submit to PHC.

3. If a patient is signed up for text message alerts from PHC, they will receive a message following their appointment requesting feedback. This allows the opportunity for immediate feedback following their visit.

“I will certainly try and fix things as soon as possible rather than deal with things six months later,” McCoy said. “I’m open to hearing from anyone.”

The next regularly scheduled meeting is Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. via teleconference. The agenda and call-in information are posted at the Seeley-Swan Medical Center.