Resthave continues to grow with community

MORRISON, Ill. — Resthave Care and Rehabilitation has been serving the Morrison community for the past 30 years, with a building expansion being completed less than 10 years ago.

Resthave Care and Rehabilitation is a Christian not-for-profit home and is community oriented, Marketing Director Karla Burn said. They offer nursing care, skilled care and assisted living all under one roof. They also offer physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy, Burn said. They also have a hospice suite, she said.

Resthave has continuously been adapting over the last 1 1/2 years since COVID-19 restrictions began, Administrator Jill Smith said. Resthave was completely shut down for quite some time and went through spurts of outbreaks with residents and staff with COVID-19, Smith said. They are now back open for visitors and residents can go out with their families for holidays, Smith said. The core principles of infection control remained in place, including screening visitors, wearing masks and wiping down surfaces, Smith said.

“We’ve weathered the storm, Smith said. “So many of our staff have been part of this facility for so long that even during the time the residents couldn’t see their families, the staff really stepped up and became their families. I think that helped the residents cope so much. But I think that’s so much who we are. We’re so much family oriented. We’re community supported. That really helped us get through and struggle through the days of the worst of it.”

The new construction was done in 2014 and 2015, Smith said.

The new building allows Resthave to use both entrances and the chapel, Burn said. They can spread out more with the residents, she said. They added a completely new nursing wing and gutted and renovated the old building to become the assisted-living area and added onto it, Burn said. They also added the chapel, she said.

“In the old building, before we added on, we weren’t able to do physical therapy,” Burn said. “So if someone broke a hip, they had to stay in the hospital. Now they can have surgery and come back and rehab here. IV meds are now able to be given here. Where before someone had pneumonia and needed IV meds they had to go out to the hospital and stay there. Now they can just stay in house here.”

The additions have improved the continuum of care offered at Resthave, Burn said.

Burn believes Resthave has evolved with the community over the past 30 years, she said. The local churches started Resthave with soup suppers and fundraising, Burn said.

“It was a small home but very much always supported by the community,” Burn said. “That’s why we try to give back so much to them. But as the building grew, we were able to have Medicare, skilled care, serve our residents even more. And I know the board is always looking for ways to continually do that.”

The board continues to be made up of representatives of churches in the community, Smith said. Most churches have a representative on the board, she said.

“I think our board is very progressive thinking,” Smith said. “They’re always trying to come up with new ways we can serve. Keeping up with the times and better serve our community.”