ABOVE: Lakeview Methodist Healthcare Center in Fairmont recently entered into an agreement with the VA out of Sioux Falls to take eligible veterans for long-term care.

FAIRMONT– In an effort to better serve all people in the community, Lakeview Methodist Healthcare Center in Fairmont recently entered into an agreement with the VA (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) in Sioux Falls to accept veterans with VA coverage for long-term care.

Lakeview just admitted its first veteran this past week.

“We’ve always been able to give them skilled short-term care, this new agreement we have is to give them long-term care,” said Lakeview Administrator, Deb Barnes.

As for how it came to be, Barnes said that Doug Landsteiner and Tam Plumhoff with the Martin County Veterans Service Office let her know that the VA was looking for nursing homes to contract with so that veterans could stay in their own communities and not have to travel so far for long-term care.

“Deb did a tremendous amount of paperwork,” Landsteiner said.

“We started the long, long process about a year and a half ago,” Barnes said. “In August we found out that they were awarding us a long-term care agreement so now veterans can come to our nursing home and the VA will pay for their care or a portion of their care. That hat was never available before until we went through the process to be accepted by the VA in Sioux Falls.”

Kayla Green, Director of Nursing at Lakeview, added that Lakeview has always been able to take veterans, but hasn’t been able to use their veteran benefits.

Landsteiner explained that certain veterans are more eligible than others for free skilled nursing care.

“Any veteran that has a combined total disability, VA adjudicated disability percentage of 70 percent or more, and need care, they can become residents and get their care here at no cost to them,” Landsteiner said.

He added that the determination would have come previous to applying for residency at Lakeview and that the disability would need to be service-connected.

“The disability would be something that incurred on active duty or was aggravated or was caused by active duty,” Landsteiner said.

While Lakeview will not have a say in which veterans qualify, it can become home to those locally who do.

“They could come here but would always have to pay privately, but if they could get that coverage at a VA facility somewhere else, obviously they mostly chose to leave the community and go where they didn’t have to pay. Now the VA recognizes us and we can admit these people for long-term care,” Barnes said.

Prior to Lakeview entering into this agreement with the VA, veterans from the area who qualified to have their long-term care covered would go to homes in Luverne, Sioux Falls or Blue Earth, which is the nearest to Fairmont.

“If they’re a Fairmont resident and they want to stay in Fairmont where their family is or their spouse is buried, keeping them local where their grandkids can visit them, they have all the benefits of anyone else at Lakeview,” Green said.

According to Landsteiner, there are more than 80 veterans in Martin County that would be eligible if they need it.

“If you add in the counties around Martin, you’re looking at a whole lot more. Jackson County or Watonwan County veterans might find this is a closer place, too,” Landsteiner said.

He said that a veteran won’t have to trade off their monthly award from the VA in order to get the VA to cover their care at Lakeview. They’ll get both.

“The city of Fairmont has a skilled nursing facility that has a contract agreement with the Sioux Falls VA medical center so that those eligible veterans can get a very nice VA benefit locally,” Landsteiner said.

Those in his office and at Lakeview alike are excited about what this means for those in the local area.

“Now our veterans in the community that are eligible for long-term care get to stay in a brand new facility and can stay close to home,” Green said.