Mountrail County Health Center looks to future with 3-year project
New nursing home under construction
STANLEY – Mountrail County Health Center in Stanley has launched a three-year, $53 million construction project designed to enhance care for its community and particularly for its long-term care residents.
Currently, the contractor, McGough, has construction underway on a new 46-bed skilled and basic care facility to replace the existing Mountrail Bethel Home, with completion expected in March 2026.
“We’ve talked about this project forever, so I’m excited to have it come to fruition,” said Stephanie Everett, administrator and foundation director for MCHC. “The residents deserve a nice home.”
The 60 year old nursing home building is showing its age, she said. Pipes are crumbling. Bathrooms are too small to accommodate lifts and barely fit wheelchairs.
The new nursing home will have 36 skilled care beds and 10 basic care beds, as does the existing facility. Everett said maintaining the number of beds is important with the continued aging of the Baby Boom generation.
Visitors entering the new nursing home will be greeted by the nursing station, located near a large, open area with tall ceilings and large windows.
“We want to have events, but sometimes we have to take it off campus because we just don’t have the space. So, we’ll be able to now have this great space to have our health fairs and all kinds of different events that we want to do,” Everett said.
The new nursing home will offer mostly private rooms, with more spacious rooms and full-sized beds. There will be two double rooms available for skilled or basic care per state requirements.
Green spaces and patios will be located around the facility, with a patio area with a firepit just outside the facility’s family room. A new beauty and nail salon will replace the current salon space.
North Dakota law allows counties to donate to local medical centers for new construction. The Mountrail County Health Foundation approached the Mountrail County Commission with a $25 million request and received $15 million last year and $10 million this year.
“I thank them and credit them for that donation, for allowing this project to happen,” Everett said. “I cannot thank the county enough for their support and having the vision of wanting to support their local nursing home and see it survive.”
The $25 million will pay the bulk of the nursing home construction cost. As of February, the foundation had $14 million yet to raise through donations and grants to fully fund the $53 million project.
Eight local Lutheran churches that have ownership in Mountrail Bethel Home also are looking at ways to support the project. Community financial support is critical to be able to make the improvements, Everett said.
“You don’t make money running a nonprofit, rural nursing home or rural hospital,” she said. “You literally are doing it for your community. You want to bring in the best providers. We’re blessed to have local providers.”
A future phase of the proposed construction includes a new hospital gift shop, extended ambulance bay and extended hospital waiting room.
This spring, construction will start on the ambulance garage. That work is set for an October completion. The waiting room in the middle of the hospital will move closer to the ambulance side of the building.
The kitchen will double in size during renovation scheduled to commence in March 2026 and finish in 2027. Additionally, the 11-bed, critical access hospital, built in 2001, will get a new entrance.
Once the new nursing home opens, both the north and south wings of the existing facility will be demolished, allowing expansion of the hospital and creation of a parking lot. A single parking lot ending in a circular driveway in front of the facility will connect the access points to the nursing home, hospital and clinic.
The hospital expansion will include space for MRI equipment and an infusion suite, both of which will be new offerings that will allow for more outpatient services, Everett said. Pharmacy will be getting a new suite, and a suite area will be created for outside specialists who come to provide care.
“We have six specialists that come in now, but we need to designate a space for it because it’s just getting too tight in the clinic,” Everett said.
The expansion construction is scheduled for July 2026-September 2027.
Rosen Place on 8th Assisted Living and a chapel, both built in 2019, will stay, and a new wing will be added to Rosen Place during 2027. As of February, Rosen Place had a waiting list of 31 individuals. The plan is to add seven more units to the current 14.
If all goes as planned, MCHC will have its new look fully completed by December 2027.
The latest projects come after an earlier series of projects that started about 15 years ago with the addition of a CT scanner, expansion of the emergency room and enclosure for the ambulance bay. That was followed by a clinic expansion and construction of Rosen Place, an executive conference room and chapel.
