AREA CARE FACILITY WELCOMES 'FAMILY CARE'
Monday, May 15th, 2006 -- 10:08 AM
A local nursing home facility is welcoming the upcoming expansion of the state's Family Care program.Family Care aims to keep the elderly independent and living in their homes. It has successfully been piloted in several Wisconsin Counties but will now be phased in in all of 'Wisconsin's' 72 counties.
Governor Jim Doyle has a stated goal of reducing by 25-percent the census of the state's long-term care facilities.
?I don?t see any great impact on us at all,? explains Lora Wagner, a spokesperson for Memorial Medical Center in Neillsville. ?We support anything that will put people where they have the most choices, the best care, the least restrictions.?
She doesn?t think the legislation will have much of an impact on their long-term care facility.
?Family Care is to protect the elderly?s choice. People who are at our facility have chosen to come here. These people really do need 24-hour skilled nursing care,? Wagner says.
Memorial Medical Center?s facility has been going through an evolution punctuated by a recent name change from ?Memorial Nursing Home? to ?The Health and Rehab Center?. The name change highlights the mindset that it's best to recover from ailments and live at home if possible.
Still, Wagner says the 99-bed facility typically runs close to full-capacity.
On the Web:
[url=http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/LTCare/]Department of Health and Family Services ?Family Care? Page[/url]
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