CRMC to build new nursing home in Crosby

Cuyuna Regional Medical Center today announced plans to build a state-of-the-art, multimillion-dollar nursing home on the Heartwood Senior Living Community campus in Crosby to continue providing high quality care and services to meet the needs of residents of greater Minnesota.

Ground will be broken for the new 45,000-square-foot nursing home as an additional wing on the Heartwood campus across Highway 210 from CRMC’s main campus this Fall, and construction is expected to take about one year. The main purpose of the project is to enhance the living experience of the residents and to create a more efficient work environment for staff.

“Our community has an expectation for high-quality health care and CRMC’s current Care Center cannot meet this need,” said CEO Amy Hart adding we do not want residents to have to go elsewhere for services. “Long-term care has evolved over the last 60 years and CRMC needs to evolve with it. Creating Heartwood Phase II allows CRMC to fulfill its mission of accommodating residents with care and compassion.”

CRMC’s current Care Center was built in 1962 and cannot be expanded at its current site because of congestion, required repairs, and structural issues. In addition, the current Care Center’s design is outdated and does not support resident independence and privacy. Many of the resident rooms and showers are shared, there are narrow bathroom doorways, long hallways, lack of common areas, storages, and offices.

Designed by BKV Architecture of Minneapolis, the new nursing home will have more of a neighborhood feel where residents have privacy and dignity, yet short distances to meet and connect with other residents. There will be lounge areas, a therapy room, central dining room, touch down nursing stations, outdoor living spaces and views, and mainly private rooms. The wing will also have a centralized nursing station for better staff efficiency and training space for staff. There will be 54 licensed beds; 48 of which are private rooms and three double rooms. The Care Center’s current average daily census is 40 residents.

The nursing home will be built on land owned by Crosby Senior Services, a partnership between CRMC and Presbyterian Homes & Services (PHS). When CRMC and PHS built Heartwood Senior Living Community in 2007, both organizations shared a vision to build a one-of-a-kind senior community where seniors could live with independence and dignity while receiving the comprehensive medical services they need. This project brings the vision to fruition.

Before the project was announced, CRMC and Crosby Senior Services made an application to the Minnesota Department of Health for approval of the project expected to cost approximately $12 to $15 million. Moratoriums on the licensure and medical assistance certification of new nursing home beds and construction projects that exceed $1 million is necessary to control nursing home expenditure growth and enable to state to meet the needs of its elderly by providing high quality services in the most appropriate manner along a continuum of care. The application was approved in June 2022.

Heartwood currently serves people aged 55 and older with 50 independent living apartments, 36 assisted living apartments, 12 memory care apartments, and 16 memory care suites.