Skilled nursing facility for Quincy? PDH seeks public input
By Debra Moore
The Quincy area has been without a skilled nursing facility since 2015 when Quincy Nursing and Rehabilitation Center closed. The building, located behind the Safeway shopping center, has since been transformed into off-campus housing for Feather River College.
At the time, Plumas District Hospital CEO Dr. Jeff Kepple and Public Health Director Mimi Hall spearheaded an effort to take over the center, but the challenges proved insurmountable. Now hospital leadership hopes to build a new skilled nursing facility and is seeking the public’s input.
A meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 10, at 4 p.m. via Zoom. The meeting call-in number is 1-669-900-6833, meeting ID: 860 3859 8363 or attendees can join at: https://pdh.zoom.us/j/86038598363?pwd=dXZjdUEwR3ZNN3k0NnVhaDdqN01QUT09, Meeting ID: 860 3859 8363, Passcode: 333572.
The purpose of this meeting is to give the residents of the district and the surrounding community the opportunity to become acquainted with the proposed construction of the new facility and its financing with USDA Rural Development.
The district is applying for project financing through the USDA Community Facilities Program. Attendees will be able to ask questions and provide comments regarding the project and the financing. For more information regarding the meeting, please contact Sierra Blanton-Rader at (530) 283-7127 or at [email protected].
A new skilled nursing facility is expensive and is coming at a time when a new hospital also is necessary to meet state seismic requirements. Dollar amounts of $30 million for skilled nursing and $50 million for a new hospital were thrown out during a special Plumas District Hospital board meeting on the topic last fall, but those figures were just rough estimates.
Board members John Kimmel and Valerie Flanigan were charged with forming a subcommittee to work on a bond issue for the hospital since they were on the board during the last bond measure effort, and board members Guy McNett and Bill Wickman pledged to work on a capital campaign to raise money for the skilled nursing facility.
The hospital board and leadership realize that this will be an incredible challenge, but they are not alone. Plumas County’s two other hospitals — Seneca and Eastern Plumas Health Care — also must address the seismic requirements for their hospitals. However, both of those entities already have skilled nursing facilities.
