Nursing home reconsiders plan to reopen Aug. 1

McCOOK, Neb. — Hillcrest Nursing Home will not reopen to visitors at the end of the month as tentatively planned earlier.

The facility has been closed to visitors since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the June Board of Trustee meeting, the interim director and board members had discussed opening the facility at the end of July.

Recently, 12 of 40 residents at the Golden Ours nursing home and assisted living in Perkins County were found to test positive for COVID-19, and seven were sent to area hospitals because they could not be cared for in the Grant hospital. Southwest Public Health District now has 70 positive cases in the district and one death.

Due to the recent uptick of virus cases in the Southwest Nebraska Public Health District, the Hillcrest Nursing Home will remained closed for the time being, said its new administrator, James Foster.

“At this time with the recent increased case numbers of COVID -19 in our local Southwest Nebraska Health District, we are proceeding with great caution and will not be opening the facility until we have a more clear path to a safe reopening,” Foster said in an email. “I would like thank our families and the rest of the public for their patiences in this trying time we find ourselves in and allowing the great staff to follow strict State of Nebraska, CDC and CMS guidelines for the safety of residents/loved ones in our care.”

Other assisted living facilities in McCook are also abiding by state guidelines. In a telephone poll done by the McCook Gazette, Colleen Benson, executive director at Kinship Pointe, formerly Brookdale McCook, said the facility is following all the guidelines provided by the state. Messages left for Deanna Snyder of Highland Park were not immediately returned.