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VIDEO | Families fear loss of time with loved ones if Samaritan Home leaves Washington County, WI

October 25, 2022 – Washington Co., Wi – Families and residents at the Samaritan Home in West Bend, Wi are fearful they may lose valuable time with their loved ones should the County Board decide to close the home and move residents to Cedarburg.

Roger Moritz is a retired nurse whose wife has been a resident at the Samaritan Home for 11 years.

“No matter what it costs to renovate the building or build new, I feel we owe it to our families to keep the facility here in town,” he said. “It’s one of the cleanest facilities and the staff are very caring and dedicated.

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“Visits are so important to our family members and with the price of gas it’s just going to get worse if we relocate say to Cedarburg or wherever, so it means so much especially when the pandemic hit, and we weren’t allowed to visit it was so hard on people there.
“Now we are allowed to visit again but I can’t feed my wife in the dining room I
can remain in her room, which I thank God for her.
“It’s so important that we stay here in town,” said Moritz.
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According to the county website: “Since first opening its’ doors in 1968 as a stand-alone nursing home, the campus has grown to include a wide array of service offerings.  The Samaritan Health Center has 131 skilled and Medicare certified nursing home beds including 119 private rooms and four specially equipped rooms for bariatric clients.

Samaritan Campus serves the needs of Washington County citizens as they age and have health, housing and rehabilitation needs.

OP ED | Washington County is negotiating human lives | By Debra Kison

Deb Anderson was on the initial Samaritan Task Force in 2019. She also worked for five years as the senior activity’s director at the Senior Center. She said, separating families is “death making.”

“I’m involved with some of the people who are over at the RCAC, and I have seen the difference it makes when they don’t see their relatives and when they do, and the element of depression and isolation are death making
“I really believe having the opportunity to be near their family and not just their biological families is so important. Many of these people have lived and worked here and they have connections to their churches to their friends. If you move them out of the county, they won’t have access to those things,” said Anderson.
Click HERE to read: Community expresses grave concerns about future of the Samaritan Home
On October 12, 2022 the Washington County Board voted 18-2 with one abstaining, to form an ad hoc committee to study options for the Samaritan Home. Multiple calls have been placed to County Board Chairman Jeff Schleif to find who has been appointed to the committee. As of the publishing of this article, no calls have been returned. The names on the committee have also not been listed on the agenda; the first meeting is slated for Wednesday, October 26, 2022. The agenda is below.

families

Calls and written requests have also been made to sit down for a one-on-one interview with the newly appointed administrator of the Samaritan Home, Matt Furno.  So far, no luck so another request was made in writing Friday, October 21, 2022.

Past leadership in Washington County, including the namesake of the county’s Herbert J. Tennies Government Center, said the taxpayers have the right to the Samaritan Home.”

Former Washington County Board chairman Herb Tennies: The taxpayers deserve the right to have the Samaritan Home. If the county has to take care of the people who have paid taxes all their years and have had bad times, they should have a place to go and be taken care of and most taxpayers in the county would agree with that.

 

Former Washington County Supervisor (1992 – 2008) Maurice (Maury) Strupp said he has been visiting his uncle at the Samaritan Home. “I don’t think the building is that bad. If they do anything the county should be using sales tax money and not try to get money from the state.”

 

Former Washington County Clerk and County Board Supervisor (2008 – 2020) Marilyn Merten said the Samaritan Home is very important to Washington County. “We do a lot for everybody we better be thinking of doing something for our people who are needing therapy and those who cannot live alone anymore.”

 

Do you think the Samaritan Home is needed in Washington County?

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1 COMMENT

  1. From 1996 into 2020, Washington County collected 0.1% sales tax for the construction of Miller Park.
    I do not believe this became a ballot issue.
    I never attended a Brewers game in that span.
    Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha and Racine counties collected $605 million from the sales tax.
    What portion was Washington county, I don’t know, but it was substantial.
    My opinion is that was money ill spent.
    We face our own county needs.
    Doesn’t seem right to me?
    Since my Samaritan Home resident Grandmother passed away, I haven’t known what goes on there.
    I hope we will see a positive resolution for the Washington County people involved.

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