Home

Craig — The closing of Valley View Manor caught Craig by surprise.

Now, the community is exploring options to replace its only long-term care facility.

Owner Mariner Health Care announced it would close the facility just two months before it shut it doors. The company closed the facility and removed all of the equipment in July.

The Memorial Hospital tried to work with Mariner to keep the facility open, but the two sides could not reach agreement.

Randy Phelps, administrator of The Memorial Hospital, said the hospital has no current plans to purchase the facility but is conducting a feasibility study to ascertain what could be done in the future. "The hospital is not particular as to who buys the building," Phelps said. "We just want long-term health care in our community."

Phelps said Mariner was unwilling to release information about the facility's operation. Such information is needed to formulate a business plan for operating the facility.

Red Cortner, who was a part of a consortium interested at one point in purchasing the home, said he does not think anyone locally has an interest in the facility.

But Pam Young of Northwest Health Specialists said she is representing a private individual interested in purchasing the building.

The building is set to be appraised by Laurie Elliot of Elliot Appraisal Services in Steamboat, sometime in the fall, Young said.

Residents have come up with a variety of ideas for the future of the building if it is purchased, including a non-profit organization, adult day care, an assisted-living community, a respite care provider or a veterans nursing home.

A cooperative effort among the county, city and The Memorial Hospital to reopen the facility has been discussed but no progress has been made yet.

The county has agreed to help start a new nursing home with the aid of $10,000 and Phelps said grant funding of $20,000 is available.

"It was a terrible disappointment that we couldn't come together as a community," Phelps said.

Darryl Steele, Moffat County commissioner, said the best way to fund a new nursing home would be through a countywide mill levy.

"I think that the community would be behind it," Steele said. "If it were put on the ballot for a tax increase, I think it would pass."