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Universal Health Care proposes new nursing home for Wake Forest
News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) - 7/30/2014
July 30--WAKE FOREST -- A health care company wants to build a new nursing home in northern Wake County to meet the needs of a growing senior population.
Universal Health Care has proposed building a new 119-bed nursing facility, citing a state finding that the county will need to expand its number of nursing home beds by 2017.
"There is a drastic need here in Wake County and we are trying to fulfill that need," said Gerry Boyle, a consultant on the project.
State officials regulate the number of nursing home beds that are available. Universal wants to relocate the number of beds it is permitted to have at its other facilities to reach the 119-bed mark at the new nursing home.
Those beds would come from the company's Litchford Falls Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Raleigh and from its nursing homes in other counties.
If the state approved all of the transfers, the shuffle would add 49 new nursing home beds to northern Wake.
Wake County officials have identified a need for additional nursing beds, especially in and around Wake Forest. However, they have not endorsed the transfer of beds from one county to another, according to the application.
If the plan is approved, Universal plans to build on Capital Boulevard near the intersection with Purnell Road. The company's back-up site is off Capital, about a half-mile north of Falls of Neuse Road.
The facility's projected opening date is October 2016.
Boyle said the company will assist any resident who needs to be moved to another nursing home because of the changes, or help them find another nursing home if they would prefer it.
Universal also has proposed renovating its Litchford Falls Center into a 75-bed assisted living facility.
A public hearing on the proposed new nursing facility will be held Aug. 20 at 10 a.m. in the Haywood Building at 805 Ruggles Drive.
Barr: 919-836-4952; Twitter: @barrmsarah
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