During their monthly board meeting, Bill Whittle with JHBM Architecture presented the specs for the new Choctaw Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The new nursing home will be located on the eastern side of the nursing.
The 60 bed, 50,000 square foot facility will have three separate wings with 20 beds located on each wing. Lacey Eaves, administrator for CNRC said at the end of each wing will be a double occupancy room so if there’s a couple that want to be together, they can be in the room together. Or, if they have a situation such as COVID, they can isolate their residents.
Eaves said the goal is for the new nursing home to feel “homey” and not like a facility.
“Because it is their home,” Eaves said.
According to the specs, at the front of the entrance, they’ll be a reception area, that area then leads to a nursing station where nurses at the station will be able to see down all three wings, no matter the angle a person may be sitting.
“Lacey was adamant about that nursing station,” Whittle said. “She wouldn’t relent.”
There will be administration offices will be around the nursing station, and a conference room, and an area for staff all at the front.
In the middle where the wings break off, there will be three gathering rooms, a media room, craft room, rehabilitation, a dining area for residents, a salon, and two covered areas for activities.
Supervisors asked if the residents will be able to go out on the wings, Eaves said they can.
“Are they going to have the little balconies like they do in Louisville?” Supervisor Joey Stephenson asked.
Eaves said no, but there will be a covered area where residents will be able to enjoy some sunshine.
Whittle said there will also be a sensory garden as there is at the current location and a courtyard. Eaves said that residents will be able to grow their own vegetables, and they currently have a resident garden at CNRC’s current location.
“If you haven’t come over, you should come see what we’ve done,” Eaves said. She said there are different programs and things for the residents to enjoy.
Whittle told the Supervisors there was a little hiccup with about a third of an acre and who it belonged to but Engineer Marty Crowder assured them it could be fixed.
Then, came the biggest question – what’s the price tag? Whittle said the cost is estimated at $19 million, but Supervisors are working on funding and are off to a good start. The goal is for there to be no financial strain felt by the taxpayers of Choctaw County.
The facility has a ways to go, as it’s just in the conception stage. Whittle said it’ll take about two years before the county sees the project come to fruition.
The next step was submitting the plans to the state for approval.
