New senior assisted-living facility in Pine Bluffs could be in the works

May 6--CHEYENNE -- Pine Bluffs could soon be on track to gain a new senior assisted-living facility, which officials say could be a huge boost to the town of just over 1,000 people.

The Wyoming Business Council Board of Directors will decide Thursday whether to fund a study, at a recommended price of almost $44,000, that would weigh the feasibility of such a project. Pine Bluffs Mayor Alan Curtis said discussions about the facility have been ongoing since the Pine Bluffs Health Clinic opened in 2017.

"There's a lot of seniors that live here in Pine Bluffs, and it just seemed like there was a few of them that were leaving Pine Bluffs because they needed some assistance," Curtis said Tuesday.

"With the addition of the new medical clinic, we had a good, consistent medical service in town, then we really needed to take a look at this."

If approved by the WBC board this week and the State Loan and Investment Board during its June meeting, the study would look at three possible locations for the long-term care facility, two in the town and another north of it.

Curtis wasn't sure of any sort of specific timeline for potential construction of the facility, though he added his hope that the study could get done by the end of the year.

"With a small community, these things take time -- just the funding piece and people willing to take an interest in it and keeping the momentum going," Curtis said.

The town already has the Pine Bluffs Senior Center, which puts on a wide range of events for elderly residents, but the center doesn't have any medical professionals on hand. For the last two years, the center has offered frequent trips to Cheyenne for residents who need to go to the capital for their medical needs.

Alisha Michaud, director of the senior center, said the new senior facility would help ease some of those difficulties of being 40 minutes away from many medical services.

"I think an assisted-living facility and bringing in the nurses and those jobs here, it would help the older people live out here comfortably," Michaud said. "A lot of them who have had to relocate to Cheyenne don't like it. It's a city to them, and they're used to being out here."

Michaud said the only potential drawback of the new care facility would be the impact it could have on the existing center.

"I'm hoping that they will allow (collaboration between us)," she added.

With the arrival of the Pine Bluffs Health Clinic a few years ago, some of the pieces are already in place for the new facility. Kimball Health Services, which manages the local clinic, has expressed interest in helping with the project, Curtis said.

Given the facility's potential impact on both the workforce and the tight-knit nature of the town, the mayor was excited to see some plans finally on the table.

"What better place than a small Wyoming community to have those services?" he asked.

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