History
The Lapeer County Medical Care Facility was built to accommodate the changing needs of medical care for Lapeer County residents. It was originally known as “The County Poor Farm”, but it also has been known as “The Infirmary”, “The Lapeer County Extended Care Facility” and “Suncrest”. In the late 1800′s, those who were weak and feeble minded or had no place to live were housed and worked at the “County Poor Farm”. By the mid 1950′s, the Poor Farm had evolved into an “Infirmary” for the poor people who were sick and had no one to care for them. The Infirmary had one large room with row after row of beds.
In the mid 1960′s, the federal government passed the Medicare/Medicaid legislation, thus creating skilled nursing homes. With the need for a skilled nursing home in Lapeer County, the county voters decided to issue construction bonds for a completely new medical care facility. The Lapeer County Medical Care Facility opened in 1971 with 126 skilled nursing beds. It was built for those elderly receiving Medicare and the county’s poor medically indigent people who are now called Medicaid recipients.
Since its beginning, the facility has always had a waiting list for admission. In 1974 a wing was added with an additional 36 beds to help alleviate the waiting problem. However, with its reputation for giving Quality of Care and Quality of Life to its residents, the waiting list continued to grow. Again, the voters decided to build an addition and to renovate the existing facility. The new addition opened in 2001 which brought the facility up to its current 202 beds. The new addition also houses a licensed child day care center for 54 children, ages two weeks, to six years old. Another part of the wing is leased out to private practice physicians.
The Renovation
In 2011, the Facility pursued a new culture change to help avoid the “institutional feel” and to make the environment more “homelike” for the residents. To accomplish this, the Facility completed a building addition that included four two-story “pods” attached to four of the south wings and attached three of the pods with a two-story wing that included 30 new private rooms. The Facility now has 106 private rooms and 48 semi-private rooms. The pods contain their own kitchens, living and dining rooms. The Facility divided the south end of the building into “neighborhoods” accommodating between 15-17 residents.
The facility is located on Suncrest Drive and its auxiliary is called the Suncrest Auxiliary, thus many people in the community continue to call the facility by its nickname “Suncrest”.
“Suncrest” is primarily devoted to the care and treatment of those residents who must be released from the acute care hospital, but are still in need of skilled nursing services, therapeutic and/or rehabilitation services. In general, these residents require a quality and/or degree of care not normally provided in a typical nursing home. “Suncrest” specializes in the care of Alzheimer/Dementia residents. The facility has a 32-bed Alzheimer/Dementia Unit. The facility received the State of Michigan’s Governor’s Quality Care Award in 2002.
“Suncrest”, realizing that each individual has a variety of physical, mental, and emotional needs, offers a full range of services to meet these needs in a caring, supportive atmosphere. The goal is to assist each resident in living as fully as possible. By providing competent, caring medical personnel, companionship, and social activities in a therapeutic setting, they strive to enhance recovery and allow individuals to remain as independent as possible. As our motto states, “Where Caring Makes the Difference.”
Before The Renovation
After The Renovation
