This past weekend, People for Pine Crest held a nonpartisan public discussion at the Merrill Enrichment Center.
Community leaders discussed Pine Crest Nursing Home’s background, as well as its financial standing.
Pine Crest Nursing Home is one of very fewcounty-owned skilled nursing homes in the region.
The Lincoln County Board says they’re concerned about the facility’s future financial viability and they’ve beennegotiating a deal with a private buyer.
On Saturday morning, People for Pine Crest organized a well-attended public discussion at the Merrill Enrichment Center to rally support for an end to the proposed sale and to take the nursing home off the market altogether.
Instead, they say they want to work towards long term solutions to keep Pine Crest a high-quality, affordable county-owned skilled nursing home.
This is Eileen Guthrie, a resident of the town of Pine River.
“We the people of Lincoln County, choose to invest in Pine Crest, and in turn, and when the time comes, Pine Crest is there for us when we need it. It's worked that way for 70 years. And we believe it should continue that way for decades to come."
Speakers included community leaders, former staff, nursing home residents and their family members.
Arlene Meyer is a current resident at Pine Crest and a former county board committee member.
“Without Pine Crest, I don’t know what I’d do. I was in the hospital with pneumonia and kind of lost my train of thought. I woke up, I was in Pine Crest. I couldn’t take care of myself anymore. Thank heavens for Pine Crest,” she said.
Repeatedly, speakers called Pine Crest a special place.
Many staff know residents on a personal level- some are even related.
There’s a level of stability that’s relatively rare in other nursing homes that tend to have higher levels of turnover.
Many voiced their concerns that privatizing Pine Crest would lead to a sharp decrease in quality patient care.
Dr. Barbara Crapster-Pregont is a Family Medicine specialist who has practiced in Merrill and seen Pine Crest patients for over 30 years.
“Bottom line nationally, the public sector not for-profit type nursing homes give better care and I think that's a very good reason to stop the sale,” said Dr. Crapster-Pregont.
They held a Q and A and responded to questions from the town hall audience.
One asked whether Pine Crest had been operating $15 million in the red.
“I don’t think that’s accurate, I have no idea where that number came from,” said the representative from People for Pine Crest.
Another question asked about a reported $7 million needed in maintenance costs.
“If it’s capital improvements, the county takes care of all the rest of their capital projects and I don’t know why Pine Crest would be any different,” said the People for Pine Crest member.
Renea Frederick is a Merrill resident whose mother spent her last few years at Pine Crest.
“Pine Crest is not in financial trouble. Pine Crest did not cause Lincoln County taxpayers any additional funds in 2023. Pine Crest looks to be financially stable, because of the increase in funding from Medicaid for the future. And there is no need to sell Pine Crest,” she said.
WXPR reached out to Don Friske, Lincoln County Board Chair, after the town hall.
He said that taxpayers paid about $900,000 in 2023 to support Pine Crest.
$440,000 goes to North Central Health Care in order to administer Pine Crest and another $500,000 in the county tax levy goes towards maintaining the buildings.
Friske responded to town hall speakers who said that revenue was higher than expenses at Pine Crest, indicating a profit.
“As I understand it, in 2023, the revenues do exceed the expenses. In 2022, we were $1.1 million short, or North Central Health Care was $1.1 million short. And the Lincoln and Lincoln County made that up using ARPA funds,” explained Friske.
He said he appreciated People for Pine Crest wanting to have an opportunity for discussion and questions.
“The difficulty that I had was that there was no representative from the county that could speak to where the county is financially, those issues or what, what the county had researched and the conclusions that had come up,” said Friske.
For now, the Lincoln County board is still negotiating with a potential buyer for Pine Crest Nursing Home.
