Upland Hills Health Unveils Plan to Expand Senior Care

Upland Hills Health officials have announced plans to develop a senior living campus in Dodgeville that will include a 63-bed assisted living center, offering both one-assist and two-assist (high needs) care.

While the new campus will not include a traditional nursing home, the high-needs assisted living units will provide the care that most nursing home patients require at a significant cost savings to residents.

To ensure that the vast majority of those requiring assisted living care will be able to receive care in this new center, the UHH Board of Trustees has increased the number of beds/ living units in its plan and pledged to accommodate a high ratio of Family Care residents. Additionally, UHH is doubling the number of memory care beds available to residents, with the transition of the existing CrestRidge assisted living and memory care facility, which currently has 24 assisted living beds and 16 beds for memory care, to a 40-bed memory care unit.

When all senior campuses are fully operational, UHH will have the ability to accommodate 103 elderly residents, compared to current UHH senior facilities that serve up to 84 residents.

The plan for expanding senior living services has been in the works for nearly a decade. UHH officials were in discussions with Iowa County officials for several years with a goal of building a joint facility, which would have taken advantage of the federal subsidies offered to county-owned facilities with residents receiving Medicaid benefits, thus making a traditional nursing home financially viable. However, the county eventually dropped out of those discussions and closed Bloomfield Manor, leaving UHH to develop a senior-living plan on its own.

Upland Hills Health President and CEO Lisa Schnedler said there is a growing demand to develop more care options for elderly residents in southwestern Wisconsin.

“There is a real and immediate need to have a community plan that addresses our aging population,” Schnedler said. “One important aspect of that plan must be to provide safe, accessible housing and medical-care options. Our board has studied a range of possibilities in senior care for more than eight years, including completing three market studies on need, visiting other senior living campuses, and talking with experts throughout the state.”

UHH will partner with ElderSpan Management, which currently operates CrestRidge in Dodgeville, to manage the new facilities.

Once land and permits are secured, construction will take approximately 18 to 24 months. Hospital services will expand into the current nursing home building when residents are transitioned to the new campuses.

“Our mission as a non-profit hospital is to ensure we are helping people of all ages live their healthiest lives,” said Jim Massey, UHH Board of Trustees chair. “We believe we are doing the right thing by expanding services for our area’s aging population.”

The board is also exploring independent-living options that could be built adjacent to the senior-care facilities.