County Allocates Portion Of ARPA Funds To Glen Haven Village
Mills County is allocating over $260,000 of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to Glen Haven Village in an effort to help the skilled nursing facility recover from the financial hit it took during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following a series of discussions with Glen Haven Village Administrator Julianne Marriott and some members of the facility’s board of directors, the county board of supervisors agreed last week to give a portion of its $2.9 million ARPA allocation to the facility to cover two specific expenses. The funds will pay off Glen Haven Village’s $160,000 line of credit loan with Malvern Bank and $100,561 will be earmarked for five months rent to the Glenwood Resource Center / State of Iowa for use of residential cottages on the GRC campus.
Marriott said Glen Haven Village has a $175,000 line of credit with Malvern Bank to help cover regular expenses, like payroll.
“The line of credit is the only safety net that we have,” she said. “If something happens with cash flow, that’s where we go to make payroll.”
Glen Haven Village pays about $20,000 a month for the cluster of residential living units it rents on the GRC campus. The county ARPA funds will pay for three months rent that are past due and two current months.
Marriott said the State of Iowa denied a request from Glen Haven Village for a reduction or waiver from some of the rental expenses.
Earlier this year, Marriott told county and city officials the non-profit nursing home had taken a $2.6 million financial hit from the pandemic as a result of added expenses and lost revenue.
The added expenses COVID-19 created for Glen Haven Village ranged from purchasing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to testing and hiring additional (pool labor) staffing. The pandemic also forced Glen Haven Village to turn its rehabilitation cottage into a quarantine unit, resulting in nearly $1 million in lost revenue.
“We have about 70 percent Medicaid” Marriott said in January. “We do that in order to make sure that payment is not a block to receiving care. In order to have that, we do rely on donor support and additional government support.”
Marriott said the facility is losing nearly $30 a day for each Medicaid resident it cares for. Having to shut down the rehabilitation cottage, where short-term residents typically have their expenses covered by Medicare or private insurance, and turning it into the quarantine unit compounded the situation.
“We had to use that space to quarantine Medicaid residents who were then occupying two rooms and underpaying for one room by $30 a day,” she said. “So, you can imagine how quickly that compounds. We also had to have a whole different set of staff for those people in quarantine.
“One month of staff at Cottage 247 (quarantine unit) is about $20,000, so if you have no additional revenue to cover that cost, you’re only getting what you’re getting for the long-term care cottages. They have a room somewhere else in the campus and you’re having to staff another person in another cottage while they quarantine without having additional revenue coming in.”
Marriott said last week “things are starting to turn around” in a positive direction, noting residents who need to quarantine can now do so in their own room. The rehab cottage is again being used for its intended purpose and occupancy has picked up in recent months.
“We don’t envisioning having to close down the rehab cottage again,” she said. “The rehab cottage, honestly, is the difference maker,”
Marriott said Glen Haven Village is also exploring new revenue possibilities, including adult daycare services and taking on the care of residents age 65 who are currently residing at the GRC.
“I’ve spoken with Mark Costello and the Glenwood Resource Center and with our lobbyist at Iowa Healthcare,” she said. “A subcommunication regarding the potential of helping out with the DOJ recommendation of to deinstitutionalize and looking at partnering with Glenwood Resource Center to potentially helping us renovate two more cottages and take some of their over 65 as those will probably be their hardest to place outside the institution.”
Marriott’s statement was made April 5, two days before Gov. Reynolds announced the GRC would be closing in 2024.
A motion to assist Glen Haven Village with ARPA funds passed by a 2-0 margin with supervisors Carol Vinton and Richard Crouch voting in favor of the allocation. Lonnie Mayberry was not present for the discussion or vote. Mills County was awarded $2.9 in federal ARPA funding and over half of that amount has now been allocated.
Both Vinton and Crouch said they’re encouraged to hear Glen Haven Village appears to be bouncing back from the pandemic. Vinton called it a “COVID nightmare.”
“What makes me feel good is that you guys are trying to find some different revenue,” Vinton said. “A lot of the people that are up there are part of our lives. I just feel like we’ve got to save it.”
Crouch said he’s hopeful the county assistance will help the facility get back to “somewhere of what you would call Square 1.”
The supervisors approved the funds for Glen Haven Village with the stipulation that the county have non-voting “liaison” representation on the facility’s board of directors.
Both the city and county assisted Glen Haven in securing funding for the facility’s construction by signing loan guarantees in 2018 that served as collateral on a USDA Rural Development loan. The city agreed to a $200,000 income guarantee and the county agreed to approximately $2 million in loan guarantees.