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LifeCare unveils plans to build new Greenbush Medical Park
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Shannon Carlson, LifeCare Senior Leader and Administrator of Greenbush Manor shows off an architectural rendering of the new Greenbush Medical Park. With construction expected to begin in 2008, the facility will include skilled nursing, assisted living, a wellness center, and a primary care clinic. Private rooms will accommodate residents with the options of independent living or
assisted care.
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You could say the city of Greenbush is bucking a trend. While many
rural U.S. communities are slowly losing their healthcare facilities, this one is about to get a major shot in the arm. A state-of-the-art medical park will soon be built on the west edge of town thanks in large part to LifeCare Medical Center.
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It is with great joy that we are able to announce LifeCare has been
approved by the Minnesota Department of Health to construct a new nursing home in Greenbush," says Shannon Carlson, a Senior Leader at LifeCare Medical Center and the Administrator of Greenbush Manor.
Over the past 18 months, Carlson and a group of LifeCare?s leaders prepared a presentation proclaiming the desperate need for a new nursing home facility in Greenbush. Carlson and his associates completed a 50-page application and presented their case for state approval during a meeting in St. Paul. No small request given Minnesota?s current moratorium on nursing home construction.
"Receiving approval for this facility ensures a healthy future for the Greenbush area well into the 21st Century," Carlson says. Quick to share credit, Carlson acknowledges the project's strong local backing.
"We've had tremendous support from Mayor Scott Waage, the Greenbush
City Council, City Supervisor Bernard Gonshorowski, and City Clerk Anita Locken," he says.
 Inside the Medical Park
The LifeCare Greenbush Medical Park will feature a 40-bed skilled nursing unit, of which 24 are private rooms. Another eight rooms are semi-private, though these too will allow privacy and include individual space.
A dozen assisted living apartments will provide residents their independence while they receive the individual daily care they need. A primary care clinic and wellness center round out the complex.
Groundbreaking is set for September.
"We are pleased at how well all the pieces are falling into place. Greenbush is in such need of a facility like this and it is exciting to see it all coming together."
Finding a suitable location for the new medical park worked out easier
than anticipated too. "The city was interested in finding a new location for its municipal airport and we were looking for a 50,000 square foot parcel of open land.
It was a perfect fit," Carlson says.
Located just off Highway 11, the city-owned airport grounds offer a perfect mix of open fields and wooded surroundings for such an elegant looking
complex.
"We wanted the medical park to feel like home and also to look like home,
so we worked with the architects to give the building an inviting exterior presence. Judging from the architectural renderings, we've captured the look perfectly. I can hardly wait to see it finished," he says
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A floorplan of the new Greenbush Medical Park shows the four nursing home wings (areas in purple) in relation to the building's total footprint. An open air courtyard in the center of the complex will bring plenty of natural light into this state-of-the-art facility.
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