County-owned Valley Hi nursing home near Woodstock opens memory care unit

The McHenry County-operated Valley Hi nursing home near Woodstock opened its new memory care unit this week, welcoming its first three residents.

County officials said the new wing, dubbed the Heart of the Valley, was a long time in the making. Valley Hi Administrator Tom Annarella said the prospects of growing Valley Hi and expanding into memory care came up during his interview for the job back in 2010.

Officials said plans for the memory care unit started as a separate building from the main residential care center but ultimately became a new wing on the existing Valley Hi building.

County Administrator Peter Austin said officials recognized an opportunity to fill a void in the county and make space for people who need memory care.

Late last year, Mercyhealth announced it was opening an outpatient dementia and memory care clinic at its Crystal Lake hospital. Dr. Amarish Davé, who leads the clinic, said there was a need for it in the community.

And nationally, the need for memory care is expected to grow, with researchers estimating that by 2060, about a million Americans a year will develop dementia, according to the Associated Press.

McHenry County Board of Health President Joe Clarke said the opening of the new Valley Hi wing was a “great stride forward” for county residents.

Then there was a study about the wing in 2016, which was reaffirmed in 2018, Annarella said.

It was both a soft and grand opening for the new wing Monday, as the first residents moved in and officials held a ribbon cutting for the unit.

The memory care wing will serve residents on Medicaid, Annarella said. Regarding the uncertainty over the future of funding for the federal program, Annarella said he wasn’t worried but noted things could change in an instant.

McHenry County Board Chair Mike Buehler said during the ribbon cutting ceremony that the expansion was “more than welcome” and “a long time in the planning.”

In addition to the three Valley Hi residents who moved in from elsewhere in the building, five outside residents were expected to move in this week and eight more from the outside the week of July 4, for a total of 16 residents. There’s room for 21 residents, Partridge said, but one space is empty for isolation.

The waiting list to get into the wing is about 50 people long, said Nick Partridge, director of the memory care unit.

“We are super excited to finally get these doors open,” Annarella said.