After two public referendums both with 2 to 1 margins to support our County Nursing Home and building a new facility in 2016 with modern amenities - the current St. Croix County Board Chair has suggested looking at selling our County Nursing Home to help pay for a new Justice Center and Highway building upgrades.
Our County Nursing Home is necessary in our community because they will more willingly accept Medicaid residents, those with mental health challenges, and/or multiple health conditions that private/non-profit homes deem too costly. They've been doing this since 1897.
St. Croix County has 20% of their population over age 65 (nearly 20,000 residents) and only 362 skilled nursing beds to meet their needs, one of the lowest ratios in the State.
As our population ages and hospitals/clinics discontinue services or shut down - access to healthcare for low- and middle-income citizens is even more critical.