After years delay, new wing opens for residents at DeKalb County nursing center

DeKALB – Six years after it was announced, a new wing devoted to transitional care for residents opened this week at the DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.

Nursing center officials said they were able to move patients already residing inside the center that fit the criteria for the new space – 10 residents – Wednesday morning, making it the transitional care unit wing’s soft opening.

Maretta “Mikki” Bell, 78, was happy to be one of those residents.

“I just think it’s spacious and beautiful, and I love the shower and the bathroom, just love it. And they’ve got a sink out here [in the private room.] I like it much better, and it’s bright. There’s a lot of light that comes in here,” Bell said. “The other side was very nice. I didn’t have much of anything to compare it with but it was nice too. ... I think most of the rooms over on the other side are doubles.”

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Maretta "Mikki" Bell, 78, one of the first residents to move into the DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center’s new transitional care wing, talks to Mary Anne Miller, social service director at the facility, Wednesday, July 10, 2024, about what she likes about the rooms in the new addition. (Mark Busch)

Bell had been a resident of the rehabilitation and nursing center, 2600 N. Annie Glidden Road in DeKalb, for about a week before she was given her own room, which has a large, private handicap accessible shower and bathroom as well as a window near her bedside.

Nursing center Administrator Bart Becker said the wing opened because the transitional care units had become fully licensed for occupancy. The facility also is certified for patients paying through Medicare or a Medicare replacement plan. Officials said this allows the facility to see more patients who are recovering from a surgery.

“This is really in a way to bolster our census. It is something included in the business plans that the County Board had approved, and so we anticipated bringing on additional residents into the TCU [transitional care units]. And so obviously the first step is to get it open.”

—  DeKalb County Administrator Brian Gregory

“Those are the folks that are post-hospital discharge and they’re here for therapy, rehab therapy, like occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy,” Becker said. “I’m not talking about like longterm placement, it’s more of the folks that are transitioning from out of the hospital to rehab, to get better and to get home.”

The DeKalb County Board authorized the 15,400-square-foot expansion in 2018, approving a $14 million bond issue to help fund the project. The County Board also had agreed to a land transfer for the wing. In August 2020, DeKalb County sold $13 million in bonds for the project. As of April 2022 – three months before the DeKalb County Board initially voted to sell the facility to a private buyer for $8.3 million – a bid to finish the project, and make other improvements was more than triple the $90,000 line of credit the county had for the expansion at the time. The buyers eventually backed out of the sale in October 2023.

DeKalb County Administrator Brian Gregory, who began working for the county in early 2021, said he hopes the finished expansion will help the storied-facility find better financial standing after a $7 million budget shortfall plagued the facility for years.

Since the facility’s sale fell through, DeKalb County Board members have voted to implement changes to the facility to help stabilize staffing and finances. Changes also have included bring in a new oversight board to provide regular updates on operations.

The new wing’s opening was aided by some creative ideas, officials said. The DeKalb County Nursing Home Foundation provided furniture for 14 of the rooms. And a DeKalb County employee has also begun painting all of the center’s hallways to provide new color. Gregory said those steps allowed the county to open the new wing for less than $100,000.

As of Wednesday, the nursing home houses 112 residents. The new wing’s rooms also have a separate dining space away from the communal areas for longterm residents.

With the opening of more private units such as Bell’s, county officials said they hope they can raise building census by as much as 18 residents.

Brian Gregory said he believes the new wing is a state-of-the-art facility, and believes the transitional care units will benefit the nursing center.

“This is really in a way to bolster our census. It is something included in the business plans that the County Board had approved, and so we anticipated bringing on additional residents into the TCU [transitional care units]. And so obviously the first step is to get it open,” Gregory said. “The TCU, rehab side, will be a way to supplement the entire census and really, I think it’s an asset for our community and will help grow our census.”

Becker said contracts with healthcare insurance providers will help the facility boost its census by broadening their potential market. He said he thinks a partnership with the Illinois Aging Services Network, in particular will help.

“What they’re going to do is, we become part of a larger group. They’re a not-for-profit but we’re part of the larger group, and what happens is they assist with insurance contracts,” Becker said. “We’ll be able to get more insurance contracts rather quickly, so we won’t be just on an independent island so to speak, we’ll be part of a larger group so then we’ll be able to get more of those large contracts, and more quickly.”

Becker said he has no doubt the expansion will be filled, and Bell may have been evidence of that. She was overjoyed with her private transitional care unit room.

“A brand new TV – whoopi! – and I’m just steps away from the dining room,” Bell said. “It’s really nice. I don’t feel so lost.”