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St. John’s Lutheran Community on Monday announced it is moving forward with a change of operations at its Luther Place campus.

The organization will move its skilled nursing home residents to its Fountain Lake campus, re-open its Sheltering Arms skilled memory care and offer additional assisted living and lodging with special services to the community.

A press release stated the change in operations will result in the need to discharge, and relocate, St. John’s Luther Place residents to other areas within the two campuses. Nursing home residents currently at the Luther Place site will have beds available at the Fountain Lake campus if they choose to relocate.

“We will offer alternative placement for every resident currently residing at our Luther Place campus,” the release stated.

St. John’s CEO and Administrator Shanna Eckberg said in reviewing market studies, considering their own experiences and speaking with county and city leaders about the needs and projections going into the future, they know there are more seniors and individuals in need of housing options in Freeborn County and the surrounding areas.

The whole upper floor at the Luther Place nursing home has not been in use since the Fountain Lake campus was built, and the Fountain Lake campus was also not filled to its capacity.

“We decided to do it because there’s a need in the community, and we have the space,” Eckberg said.

The goal is to have 16 residents in Sheltering Arms on the first level of the Luther Place campus, which will provide a nursing home skilled level of memory care services. There could be a possibility for more if the need is there. Assisted living memory care services are offered at The Meadows at the Fountain Lake site.

On the second level of the Luther Place site, Eckberg said the organization is looking to have board and lodging, which would provide housing for individuals who might need limited services.

“What we found in our experience is that we’re kind of missing some folks who are able to walk around but who just aren’t safe at home anymore,” she said. “We’re hoping to offer them a place to live.”

This could accommodate lower-income seniors, and she noted while there would be staff in this area, there would not be as many staff as there would be at an assisted living site.

The first floor would also have some lower acuity assisted living for people who might need help with things such as meals, transportation or light housekeeping.

“We are excited about the upcoming changes at St. John’s because this will allow us to offer more services to Albert Lea and Freeborn County seniors,” the release stated. “We firmly believe these operational changes will bring more opportunities for seniors in our community and surrounding communities for many years.”

Eckberg said there are resident, staff and family meetings this week about the changes, and so far feedback has been fairly positive.

The one thing they have found that they will need to work on is if there are couples who have one spouse in Knutson Place apartments and the other in skilled nursing.

The St. John’s Luther Place site was dedicated for skilled nursing care in 1962, and the Fountain Lake campus opened in phases between 2016 and 2018.

She emphasized that the announcement is not a closure but instead a change.

“We are not closing,” she said.

She said no staff will be eliminated in the transition though some may be shifted to new locations.

“We just really want to be able to serve more seniors … because they’re out there, and we want to be able to help more,” Eckberg said.

They hope to have the residents moved to the new campus by Oct. 1 before the weather gets cold, and then indoor work will begin at the Luther Place campus. The portion used for Sheltering Arms will need limited renovations, including paint and possibly some updates in the kitchen. For the rest of the campus, the organization is having a strategic evaluation done to help analyze and determine costs for updates.

She hoped the indoor work could be complete by next spring or summer, depending on product availability.