Sunny Hill Nursing Home renovations entering final phase

JOLIET – Ida Baaske sat in a small, brightly lit laundry room last week at Sunny Hill Nursing Home, hands resting in her lap, waiting for her clothes to dry.

It’s a freedom she doesn’t take for granted.

“I like to do my own laundry,” Baaske said. “It’s perfect for me. You can rearrange the clothes any way you’d like.”

Baaske said she’s happy to take care of chores like this, just as she did for her family.

The new self-serve laundry room is just one of the many renovations completed during the last decade at the county-supported nursing home.

The multi-phase, $20.5 million project is in its last stretch, with completion expected within the next two years. The project, which began in 2004, is the biggest since the facility’s inception in 1970.

The renovation’s goal was to give the facility a “hometown, Main Street feel,” said Karen Sorbero, the nursing home’s administrator.

A communal Sunshine Room was created to include a candy store and beauty parlor, and the front lobby, along with five of the six residential areas – known as “avenues” – have been fully gutted and renovated, Sorbero said.

“Some of the residents say, ‘Hey, I lived on Fifth Avenue all my life, so now I’m back at Fifth Avenue,’ ” Sorbero said. “What we’re doing is trying to create a home for them.”

Medicaid reimbursements

The residential facility is one of the last county-owned nursing homes in Illinois, officials say. Many counties are getting out of the nursing home business, but Sorbero said Will County is doing the opposite with its investment in Sunny Hill.

Unlike most privately owned nursing homes, Sorbero said, the 300-bed nursing facility focuses on providing care to those dependent on public aid or who cannot afford private, long-term care facilities. Sunny Hill accepts a higher percentage of Medicaid residents than any other care facility in the county, she said.

Joe Babich, who serves on the Public Building Commission and on the Will County Board, said the county sees value in Sunny Hill because the “need for service is great.”

“There’s people out there that can’t qualify for other facilities. It’s too expensive. I still think it’s needed,” Babich said. “Anyone who disagrees should go out there now and see what’s been done. It’s one of the nicest and cleanest.”

About 85 percent of the facility’s 200-plus residents are Medicaid recipients, Sorbero said. Because of the renovations, the nursing home now receives $18.18 per Medicaid resident per day, said Andrea Dolan, financial supervisor for the nursing home. Nursing homes can get higher reimbursement rates based on building improvements.

“That’s the maximum you can get from the state,” Dolan said, noting the nursing home’s reimbursements are up more than double, from $7.40 in 2009.

Project scope

The project includes a new kitchen and buffet, generator, therapy room with updated equipment, activity room, nursing suites and administrative offices.

A third project phase – the courtyard – was completed earlier this year.

In the fourth and final phrase, Sorbero said the sixth avenue will be completed, and a new coffee bar, library, therapy pool and chapel will be built. New washers and dryers for staff are also planned, she said.