Prairie 'star' ready to welcome veterans to Montevideo, Minnesota
Dec. 23—MONTEVIDEO
— A campaign to develop a Minnesota Veterans Home in Montevideo will come to fruition exactly 16 years after it began this January, when its first residents are welcomed to the new home on the community's east side.
"Absolutely wonderful," said Marv Garbe, of Montevideo, speaking of the new facility. Garbe was among those who launched the campaign for the home, and among those who have enjoyed an early tour of it.
"They're blown away," said Tim Kolhei, Chippewa County Veterans Service Officer, of the responses he's heard from those who have toured the facility. One backhanded compliment he heard may have said it best: "I forgot I was in Montevideo."
"I'm grateful for the opportunity to help open it," said Ashley Bormann, administrator of the home, as she led a recent tour for the West Central Tribune.
The 72-bed facility will welcome its first 24 residents in January. Bormann expects that the facility will be fully occupied by the end of next year. There is a waiting list for admission.
She said staff recruitment is going well and staff training is well underway. The facility will be staffed by 150 full- and part-time workers when fully occupied.
The building includes 95,513 square feet on a 13.4-acre site, according to West Central Tribune archives.
The building's prairie-themed, spacious interior is flooded with natural light. "The star of the place is the windows," said Bormann.
Also capturing star status is what sets this veterans home apart from others. Thanks to a greater than $3 million bequest from the estate of Steve Williams, a Vietnam veteran from
Clarkfield,
the home features a 2,900-square-foot community room. Bormann said the room will make it possible to bring a variety of community activities to the home.
Jim Williams said his brother, who died at age 70 on March 14, 2018, would be proud to see what has been built in his memory. He said it's especially appropriate that many of the home's first residents will likely be veterans who had served in Vietnam, as had his brother.
The new home is divided into four separate households, each with 18 residential rooms, according to information from the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs. The households will go by the names of Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Swift and Yellow Medicine in recognition of the contributions made by the counties to make the home possible.
The households allow access to three fenced outdoor courtyard areas.
Each of the households offers comfortable spaces for small gatherings of residents or residents and their families. "Quiet spaces for families to spend time together," said Bormann of the gathering places.
Each household has its own central kitchen and dining area where residents can enjoy anytime meals, or if they wish, cook up their own favorites. A central kitchen, located on a lower level, will produce all of the full meals that will be served in the household dining rooms.
The home features a town center including a small coffee shop, theater and meeting room, along with a family dining room meditation/chapel, and club room. There are separate areas for physical therapy, dental, barber and beautician services, along with a small library, and a crafts room.
Bormann said she and staff members are very excited about the impending opening of the home to its new residents. She considers this the very best nursing home in the state.
"I'd say they didn't cut any corners in this project," she said.
Kolhei said his office is hearing from many people who are eager to visit veterans in the new home. He believes there will be "lots of traffic" as community members drop in to play cards or visit, or host events in the Williams Community Room.
Some of that traffic will be two-way. Bormann said the home has the use of a van and a donated golf cart. Residents will be able to take short trips to the nearby Montevideo Schools and outdoor fields for events and sporting events, or hop on the bus for rides to the downtown or other locations.
