Bemidji Veterans Home Staff Give Sneak Peek of Facility at Open House Conference

While construction of the long-awaited Bemidji’s Veterans Home continues, staffing and admission efforts are already in full swing. As a means of informing the community on the facility, the Bemidji Veterans Home held an open house conference last week in their current community office.

“This was an opportunity for folks to get together, to visit to get some updates, but also hopefully partner with us going forward,” explained Bemidji Veterans Home Administrator Kevin Gish.

This open house was meant to serve as an open forum to the community where they could get a sneak peek of the upcoming veterans home and ask any questions regarding the facility.

“They’ve been asking a lot about, you know, admission process, what the home is gonna look like, how the home is gonna be staffed, what kind of activity programs are we going to be offering, things like that,” said Bemidji Veterans Home Nursing Director Dani Churness.

One question that cropped up was: What exactly is the veterans home?

“There is a lot of differing views on what it is,” said Gish. “It is first and foremost a nursing home that will be regulated by the federal government through CMS Medicare, as well as the state of Minnesota through the Department of Health.”

Community seemed to respond positively to the open house, showing their support for its construction as well as the efforts that would be made during its operation.

“There is so much support to the veterans it’s really amazing to me…” said Churness. “Just seeing the positivity through the room and how much people wanna help is just awesome to me.”

The Bemidji Veterans Home is set to complete construction and host a grand opening in summer of 2023.