Rural residents struggle to adapt when a nursing home closes

By Ava Kian
MinnPost
Paulette Johnson described her brother John’s move from one nursing home to another as “traumatic.”
John Johnson had lived in the Meadow Lane Restorative Care Center in Benson for about five years before he had to leave when the center announced its closure last summer.
Since the COVID pandemic, nursing homes across Minnesota have been closing at alarming rates, due to financial stressors. From 2019 to 2022, 15 nursing homes shut down in Minnesota. In 2023, eight nursing homes closed.
The closures not only affect residents; they also have an impact on families, communities and the nursing home employees.
While he was at the Meadow Lane home, Johnson was very active in Benson, his hometown. He’d go into town with his scooter, attend church, go to football games and also run the scoreboard for softball and baseball games.
He’s extremely attached to the community. We cried probably for about a week,”  Paulette said of his move to another home. “It was very traumatic.”
It’s hard for her, too, since she lives in Benson and he is now in a nursing home in Litchfield, about an hour’s drive to the east.
“Johnny and I are very close. I was up at the (Benson) nursing home probably two, three, four times a week, bringing him this and that,” she said.
Johnson’s specific needs require him to have a nurse at all times, which limited his care options in Benson. So he and his family decided the best home for him would be the one in Litchfield.
Now she says she sees him around holidays, birthdays and county fairs. She thinks that come fall, she might see him only once a month.

Strengthened regulations
Benson resident Grant Herfindahl had a similar experience after his mom’s nursing home in Glenwood closed in 2014 and he was left in the frenzy of finding a new home.
Herfindahl regularly attends meetings of the Minnesota Farmers Union and brought up the nursing home closure in Benson at a recent gathering. He hopes there can be more legislation regarding letting communities know and provide input on nursing home closures.
Stu Lourey, the government relations director for the farmers union, said this has been a concern from other members across the state, too.
Current state statute requires hospitals to provide a 120-day notice before closures and for the commissioner of public health to host a public hearing regarding the closure.
Nursing homes don’t operate under the same state guidelines, though they do have some, like a requirement that they provide a 60-day notice before closures or a change in operations and assist residents in finding new homes.
Herfindahl thinks regulations for nursing homes should be similar to those of hospitals as more nursing homes continue to close in Greater Minnesota.
In 2023, Minnesota committed $300 million to help struggling nursing homes over the next two years. Despite some of that funding being dispersed last August, three nursing homes still closed that year. A nursing home in Red Wing is currently under the process of closing and another in Arlington is set to close by the end of August.
Herfindahl recalled what it was like when his mom’s home closed. He remembers being notified around 60 days before. “The burden was completely on me calling these different nursing homes, and trying to find a little bit about them,” he said.

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