Life Care Centers to expand
Life Care Centers of America will break ground Friday on a $40 million campus in Post Falls.
The facility will be the second in Kootenai County for the Tennessee-based firm, which is one of the nation’s largest providers of nursing home and assisted living facilities.
Beecher Hunter, Life Care’s president, referred to the “maturing population” in the Northwest in a press release announcing Friday’s groundbreaking.
About 13 percent of Kootenai County’s population is 65 or older, according to U.S. Census figures – a rate that is slightly higher than the U.S. population as a whole.
Caring for the elderly ranks among Kootenai County’s fastest-growing industries, according to Kathryn Tacke, regional labor economist for Idaho’s Commerce & Labor Department.
About 1,600 people work in nursing homes, home health care and other residential care for the elderly in the county, earning wages of $31 million. The number of people employed in elder care has grown by 49 percent over the past six years.
“That’s definitely fast growth, even for our area,” Tacke said.
Life Care’s Hunter wasn’t available for comment Wednesday. However, company officials estimate that the new Life Care complex will have a $10 million annual economic impact on the area, including a yearly payroll of $4 million, plus local purchases of goods and services.
Construction of the Post Falls facility will begin in early 2007. The complex will be built at 2800 E. Mullan Ave., near Wal-Mart.
About 170 people will work at the complex, which will include a 120-bed nursing home, 104 assisted living apartments and 153 independent living units. Life Care will operate the nursing home, while an affiliated company, Century Park, will run the other units.
Life Care also operates a facility in Coeur d’Alene, two in Sandpoint and one in Spokane.
Life Care was founded 30 years ago in Cleveland, Tenn. According to a recent article in American Executive, the company has more than 260 facilities nationwide, 30,000 employees and annual sales of nearly $1.5 billion.