Beverly Healthcare being renovated

Business Today

POPLAR BLUFF -- The new administrator didn't waste time in getting things going. Patty Norman took over as executive director of Beverly Healthcare last May. The facility is located at 2071 Barron Road.

In August, Norman started a renovation project of the main lobby at the nursing home to expand the commons area.

Next spring she plans to open a Behavior Care Unit within Beverly Healthcare to provide long-term care for people suffering from advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease with behavior complications.

"We're trying to update and modernize to improve the appearance of the facility," Norman said. "We tore out a nurse's station and opened the lobby area up. We have a fireplace coming in, new carpet, new tile and new furniture and curtains. It will be a nice area for family and residents to have a place to visit one another."

Beverly Healthcare is a 87-bed skilled nursing home facility for the elderly, that offers a full scope of short-term services that includes physical, speech and occupational therapy and transitional care for people just released from a hospital who need more time to recuperate.

Beverly currently has 65 patients and is staffed by 60 people.

Norman said she was looking to offer a service that currently isn't being provided in the community, and that after talking with Public Administrator Sharron Payne, she was advised of a lack of a long-term care facility in Butler County for patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease with behavior complications.

Norman said when the Behavior Unit is completed next spring it will house 16 to 18 patients.

Norman previously worked as administrator for Senath Nursing Center in Senath. She has 15 years of experience in the nursing home business.