Woman shares personal impact on Broken Bow’s nursing facility closing

(KHGI) — A nursing home in Custer County, the newest addition to the list of those facilities shutting down across the country.

“And I knew people would love him and that was evident the day we moved him out. People came one by one to hug him and love on him which was really special,” said Deb Kennedy, whose family is affected by the closure.

An emotional week for Deb Kennedy as her father had to be relocated just last Friday from Broken Bow’s nursing facility to one in Cozad.

“And I know he’ll do fine in Cozad and that the staff there will get to meet the daddy I grew up with, the gentle, Godly, loving man, I just wished got to see that more often,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said this will certainly be an adjustment for her father who needs a lot of care.

“My dad two years ago fell and broke his hip, he has Parkinsons. Once he broke his hip, that made the decision for us that he would have to go to some long-term skilled care. Broken Bow Care & Rehab stepped up and gave him a home for the last two years. They took tremendous care for him and it was kind of a shock when we learned that he had to go somewhere else,” Kennedy said.

She goes on to say the difficult part of this move will be for her mother. The new facility will be a bit of a distance for her mom to drive to often.

“Yeah my mom is 84 and she drives fine. She does really well actually. But for her to drive an hour multiple times a week, it’s going to be tiring and exhausting. Not sure how long she’d be able to keep up that pace because it’s a long ways for her to drive over and back. And when you consider that you’re spending two hours of your day without your loved one, that makes it hard too,” Kennedy said.

Broken Bow’s City Council President, Rod Sonnichsen said with this facility’s closure also comes the loss of dozens of jobs.

“As a community we have been very strong and with the three entities between the city, and the chamber of commerce, and economic development we have done skyrocketing things in the past and I’m hoping we can only fix this if we can,” Sonnichsen said.

While this will certainly be an adjustment for both patients and families affected, Kennedy said for now her 88-year-old dad is doing the best holding on to his faith.

“He doesn’t understand why he can’t be here where with his family is, but he also understands that God has a plan in it, so he’s going to do whatever God wants him to do and love people as he feels like he should,” Kennedy said.

(This story was originally reported by our partner station KHGI)