Older Nebraskans scramble to find new homes as nursing homes close

ADAMS, Neb. (KLKN) – In your golden years, the last thing you should be worrying about is losing your home.

Unfortunately for many older Nebraskans, this has become a reality.

Nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the state continue to close, leaving many residents and their families wondering where they are going to live.

Helen Milius, a 97-year-old Nebraskan, said she was recently “ordered out” of the facility where she had lived for the last 7 years as it closed its doors.

“I had a nice closet space there,” she said. “Yeah, they took good care of me, too.”

Milius doesn’t have much family in Nebraska.

“Boy, we were anxious to know, where are we going to go?” she said. “They all went in different directions, and I said, ‘I’m going to go back to Adams because I went to school there.’ ”

When a facility closes, many scramble to find a new home.  Gold Crest Retirement Center only had room to take in two residents from The Kensington in Beatrice.

“We only had two beds open, so we weren’t able to help assist much in the actual transitions,” said Jeff Fritzen, executive director of Gold Crest. “We had more interest than we did beds.”

Milius said, “I’m glad I’m here.”

So why are these facilities closing?

“Really, the No. 1 driving factor has been access to staffing and the ability to pay staff a competitive wage,” said Jalene Carpenter, president and CEO of the Nebraska Health Care Association.

There is a bill in the Legislature that would give funding to help increase provider rates.  There is also a chance these facilities could receive a chunk of the billion-dollar American Rescue Plan Act funds to help gain and retain staff.

“The funding is so critical because we do have others that are on the brink, and I talk to people frequently, and they say it might be too late,” Carpenter said.

Fritzen said, “The funding is necessary to change the long-term care spectrum in Nebraska, and to keep facilities out in rural areas so that there is the care that they deserve and need.”

But funding isn’t the end of the conversation.

“We as Nebraskans have to decide: What do we want for our elders? What do we expect as a state as far as what is acceptable access? What is acceptable for an elder Nebraskan to have to do in order to get the care that they need, where they want it?” Carpenter said. “I think that is the next conversation.”

There is something we can all do to help facilities stay open.

“There are so many jobs in the facility, from housekeeping to activities,” Carpenter said. “You could work one day a week and make a huge difference.”