As of March 1, Prairie View Care Center is veterans certified, making it possible for some veterans to receive 100 percent paid nursing home care.
Not all military veterans are eligible to receive these benefits, however. PVCC Administrator Kayla Chaussee says the VA will only pay for veterans who are 70 percent service-related disabled and benefits do not extend to spouses.
The certification was finally awarded after a long battle with the Veteran’s Administration. When Prairie View added on to their facility last year, they also made allowances for upgrades, which were necessary to receive VA certification. The entire facility had to have a fire sprinkler system, which was added at that time.
Following the renovations, Prairie View administration was told there wasn’t a need for a VA certified facility in this area. Not having the certification has forced many veterans to move away from their hometown in order to receive the care they need.
Persistence paid off, following phone calls nearly every day from Woonsocket City Finance Officer Tara Weber and lobbying by PVCC to the Veterans Administration office in Sioux Falls, along with calls to state representatives.
According to Chaussee, the final breaking point for the VA was the fact that Prairie View already had a resident in their care who qualified for the program and no other facility was able to take him.
PVCC received its certification on March 1, under a one year contract. Chaussee expects the contract to last the next four years, however, as contracts are not normally reviewed any more often than that.
Prairie View Care Center is a 52-bed nursing home facility, located on the west edge of Woonsocket. The facility has a special care memory unit, in-house physical therapy services, is Medicare certified and offers short- and long-term residential care. PVCC opened in 1970 and is operated by the Sanborn County Development Corporation.
The public is encouraged to visit the facility and families are welcomed to hold their family gatherings in one of their public spaces. Contact PVCC at 605-796-4467 or e-mail prairieview@santel.net.

    The Woonsocket pool opened Monday despite the chill in the water due to cool weather, rain and a late start due to repairs. Swimmers could at least enjoy warmth outside of the pool as Monday was the first 80-plus degree day in over a week.
Lack of sun and warmth kept the pool icy cold after being filled, so Tara Weber had to get creative in order to get the water to a swimmable temperature. Weber devised “solar panels” and a continuous flow solar heating system in an attempt to warm up the water.
The solar panels (black garbage bags over swim “noodles” or hula hoops) seem to have been a success.
The water heating system consisted of a small water pump hooked to black hose coiled around and around on a black board. The cold water was pumped out of the pool and traveled through the hose, which had been warmed by the sun, and came out bathwater warm and was deposited back in the pool.
It was a successful apparatus, but it was decided more would be needed if they run into the same problems next year.