With site work underway and an expected completion date of Fall 2013, the new Senior Care Facility located on the north edge of Orange City is becoming reality. According to Dan McCarty, COO of Orange City Area Health System (OCAHS), a significant amount of the $19 million needed to build the replacement nursing home facility has been secured, and now a final public fundraising campaign is underway to “fulfill the promise.”
“We set a goal of $200,000 in our community campaign,” explains McCarty, who is leading the charge on the senior care project. “OCAHS serves a broad area in northwest Iowa, including the communities of Alton, Maurice, Granville, Hospers, Paullina, and Orange City, among others. We are asking residents of these communities to contribute whatever they can to help make this important ‘home for our seniors’ a reality.”
This $200,000 public ask represents the final fundraising for the facility. To date, $2.8 million has been raised of the $3 million philanthropic campaign.
“The Orange City area has a long history of improving the quality of life for all of its citizens,” says Drew Vogel, chair of the fundraising committee. “This capital campaign offers all of us the opportunity to focus on our seniors by providing a facility that better reflects the dignity and respect they deserve.”
While the general fundraising campaign is encouraging donations of $1 to $1,000, there are specific giving opportunities for those who wish to leave a legacy or make a more significant contribution. “For a donation of $5,000 over five years,” explains McCarty, “a person or a family can have their name attached to a resident room.” In addition to this Resident Room Naming Opportunity, donors can be part of the Senior Care Family club for a donation of $2,500 over five years. Other naming opportunities such as building facades and community landmark murals of the towns (named above) are also available.
Area residents and families are being asked to contribute to the final $200,000 following a successful Orange City Area Health System Employee Campaign. According to McCarty, the 500 employees of OCAHS were asked to consider donating to the senior care facility to the tune of $200,000. “We anticipate that 100 percent of our employees will turn in a pledge card,” he reports. “To date, our team has pledged over $212,000 to the project.”
“I am excited about this new home for our seniors and the opportunity to contribute to it as part of the OCAHS team,” said Grace List, business center/billing manager for the health system. “It’s such a worthy project and an important way to give back to the community and to our elderly.”
The new Senior Care Facility is Phase II of Orange City Area Health System’s “promise to the community.” Five years ago the new state-of-the-art, total healing hospital/health system campus was completed, and the new home for seniors is designed to “fulfill the promise,” according to McCarty.
For more information or to contribute to the project, contact McCarty at 712-737-5374 or visit ocHealthSystem.org and click on the Senior Care link. There is a video online to help explain the project. The goal is to secure all contributions by December 15.
QUICK FACTS
• By 2014 the two Orange City nursing homes will no longer meet life safety codes.
• 94 percent of the current nursing home rooms in Orange City are not private rooms.
• More than 50 percent of the nursing home rooms share a bathroom between four residents.
• The new Senior Care Facility is approximately 81,500 square feet, located on the north edge of
Orange City, adjacent to Landsmeer Ridge Retirement Community which is also owned and operated
by Orange City Area Health System.
• All resident rooms and bathrooms in the new facility will be private.
• The main focus of the project is to create a facility that feels more like the residents’ previous homes,
and will consist of four “villages,” with an indoor park, local landmarks, and a “main street environment.”