Meetings Planned for 'Vote Yes Valley View'

Organizers for the campaign to “Vote Yes Valley View Home” are hosting informational meetings around the county throughout July.

Meetings have already occurred in Hinsdale (July 10) and Opheim (July 12). Future meetings will be held on July 13, at 6:30 p.m., at the Nashua Senior Citizens Center; July 18, at 7 p.m., at the Fort Peck Interpretive Center; July 19, at 4 p.m., and July 25, at 7 p.m., at Valley View Home in Glasgow; July 25, at 1 p.m., at Frazer High School; Aug. 1, at 6 p.m., at the St. Marie Town Hall and Aug. 6, at 8 p.m., at Lustre Christian High School.

All residents of Valley County are encouraged to attend as the meetings will clarify points relating to the upcoming votes for Valley View Home’s operating cost mil levy and the establishment of a permanent “special hospital district” for Valley View Home.

As has been reported previously, Valley View Home has faced financial difficulties due to rules limiting Medicaid reimbursement for residents who qualify. As a result, the home is in need of operating costs to maintain its viability to the tune of $300,000 annually. The solution to this problem is two-tiered. First, the County is looking to pass a two year,10 mil levy this September in order to cover the costs in 2018 and 2019.

The second tier is the establishment of a permanent “special hospital district,” to appear on the ballot in May 2018, that would continue to collect up to the 10 mil annually for the home’s operations. Similar to a school district, the “hospital district” would be administered by an elected board and the revenue generation could be reduced if not needed by the facility. This district would only serve Valley View Home and would not affect FMDH or any other facility in the County.

As committee co-chairs Don Fast and Tom Markle told the Courier previously, this is the only feasible way to keep Valley View Home open and to continue serving one of our communities most vulnerable groups. If passed, Valley County would become one of 18 rural or frontier counties to have funded skilled nursing homes with special hospital districts.

As Fast told the Courier in an earlier interview, “A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. This is not about us, not about the district, it is about making sure our elders have quality care.”