By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Bowling Green Manor is now a Veterans Affairs-approved nursing home for area veterans. The West Poe Road skilled nursing and therapy care facility was recently awarded a VA contract.
According to Administrator Brandon Hemminger, Bowling Green Manor is the only nursing home in Wood County with a VA contract.
Though there are several nursing homes with VA contracts in adjacent counties, Hemminger said it had been about 10 years since the VA added new buildings to provide VA care.
“This is the VA trying to expand the territory, and we were chosen,” he said.
The process to earn a contract took about a year and lots of paperwork to document that BG Manor provides comprehensive, person-centered care and meets the federal standards to protect residents.
“As soon as we got the letter in the mail, it was a no-brainer,” said Hemminger, who had worked at a VA-contracted nursing home in Sylvania. “The opportunity to provide care to our veterans was huge—a huge responsibility, a privilege and an honor for us at BG Manor.”
Nursing homes with VA contracts must maintain four-star metrics that include quality of care ratings for criteria such as falls with injuries, percentage of infections, staffing, and the number of residents who need help with active daily living. The care can be long-term care or for in-patient or out-patient rehabilitation services such as physical, occupational or speech therapy.
They had to provide details about the building, its history, current services and future plans.
“We’ve done that,” Hemminger said. “We provide excellent care here. Our commitment is to provide care here to our community.”
Any decisions made for the facility are based on “how is this going to best serve our building and our community, Bowling Green and Wood County as a whole,” he said.
“As soon as this opportunity arose, we asked, ‘Is this going to benefit the community? Yes. Then let’s go.’”
During the first week since the contract was awarded, there has already been quite a bit of interest. As of Monday, six referrals had come in and a couple of families with loved ones who are veterans have toured the facility. “It was almost instant,” Hemminger said.
They don’t know how many local veterans might be eligible for services at BG Manor, but Hemminger knows there are veterans in the Delphos area who need ventilator care, which is one of the newer services available at Bowling Green Manor.
“We have some specially licensed beds for those services,” he said.
Currently, the facility has 99 beds and a residency rate of about 95%. Hemminger expects most of the beds to be full with the addition of the VA contracts.
“We want veterans and their families to know we are here for them as a resource, whether they come here to receive care or not,” he said.
Local families are encouraged to call the nursing home if they have questions or need advice on long-term care planning.
“Our focus is more about helping the people who gave an incredible sacrifice for us,” Hemminger said. “This is an opportunity for us to give back to our veterans.”
