Cascade senior facility sold

CASCADE, Iowa — Shady Rest Care Center shareholders approved selling the Cascade facility to Accura Health Care of Iowa during a recent shareholders’ meeting.

Accura is based in Clive and is expected to take over operations of the facility on Thursday, July 1. Neither Shady Rest nor Accura would disclose the sale price. The net assessed value of the facility is listed at $2,575,720.

The 46-bed facility, including a 12-unit memory care wing, opened in 1972. Ken McDermott, president of the Shady Rest Board of Directors, said remaining an independent facility has become more difficult.

“It’s been harder and harder for small, standalone nursing homes and long-term-care facilities to remain financially viable,” he said. “We’ve seen competition from assisted-living and senior apartments and home health care. It’s taken a toll on our census and really reduced the number of residents we have. The Board of Directors has been looking at the future of Shady Rest and how we could make sure there was a long-term-care facility that would be in Cascade and be financially viable for the long term.”

The facility will operate as Accura Healthcare of Cascade. McDermott believes the company is a good fit for the community as well as the residents of Shady Rest.

“What we were looking for was an Iowa-based company that operated facilities in smaller communities similar to Cascade that shared a lot of the same values and philosophy that the Shady Rest board has over the years,” he said.

McDermott said the workforce of the equivalent of 50 full-time employees will retain their jobs and seniority.