Officials break ground on $3.3 million nursing home addition in Woonsocket

• Prairie View groundbreaking

Members of Prairie View Care Center’s board of directors gather Monday in Woonsocket with finance and operations officials and the mayor to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new addition and renovations to the current building. Here, the group breaks ground as a surveyor in the background with Benchmark Land Surveying Service marks building parameters for a new resident room wing. (Anna Jauhola/Republic)

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WOONSOCKET — Officials broke ground Monday on a $3.3 million renovation and addition project at a Woonsocket nursing home.

Officials from Prairie View Care Center have worked with the Sanborn County Development Corp., the Small Business Administration, Santel Communications and CorTrust Bank to make the project a reality.

“We’re just really excited about this,” said Darren Swenson, president of Sanborn County Development Corp., which owns the building. “This project is meant to make the facility more efficient, provide better care and get us into compliance.”

The building is in need of updates to meet state health-care codes, said Jackie Evers, president of the Prairie View Care Center board of directors.

The Sanborn County Development Corporation and Prairie View Care Center board of directors have been working on the project for three years.

The facility is licensed for 52 beds but is only using 45, with 21 semi-private rooms and three private rooms. Renovations will change some semi-private rooms into private rooms.

There is a need in Woonsocket and the surrounding area for more room at the facility. The renovation will allow the facility to make use of its full license, Swenson said.

The project includes three phases. Phase one will include the addition of six resident rooms, an activity space, a resident and family social space, a kitchen and laundry reconfiguration, outpatient therapy facility, and a public pharmacy.

Phase two includes a family dining area, nurses’ station and a beauty salon.

Phase three includes a main dining area and corridor updates such as lighting.

The board has not yet secured all of the needed money.

The project is short by $538,843. While the board continues to look at options, it is considering the possibility not all funds will be attainable.

If that happens, Swenson said the board will modify phase one, and cut back in phases two and three.

“We’re hoping the community will see value in the project and want to help,” he said.

Much of the remodeling is needed to remedy state regulatory compliance issues. The current building needs a sprinkler system in the attic, smoke detection, nurse call system and door security upgrades, laundry revisions, corridor handrails and veteran certification.

“We have some vets in here who aren’t receiving their benefits because we’re not certified,” Swenson said. “We want them to receive their benefits.”

The facility will be certified through the federal Veterans Administration once the renovations are complete, Evers said.

The current facility was built in 1970, with the special care unit added on and existing rooms renovated in 1999.

Prairie View Care Center is the second largest employer in Woonsocket, with 68 employees.

The project is expected to be completed by spring 2012.

Tags: our towns, nursing home, woonsocket, healthcare