BISMARCK - North Dakota's aging and disabled sex offenders who need long-term care may end up in a special unit at a private nursing home.
The concept is modeled after a Valley City unit that cares for about a dozen former State Hospital patients. The special geriatric unit is part of Sheyenne Care Center, one of several facilities the Sisters of Mary of the Presentation Health System operate in the state.
Gov. John Hoeven, other state officials and the Long Term Care Association's president reached that preliminary consensus Friday during their first meeting to discuss how to cope with sex offenders who are judged problematic for regular nursing homes.
Currently, there are six to eight residents at the State Hospital who would qualify for the special unit, said State Hospital Superintendent Alex Schweitzer. They are living at the hospital - being warehoused, he said - because no one else will take them.
Schweitzer and Long Term Care Association President Shelly Warner said a nursing home has expressed interest in setting up such a unit. But the state must take action first.
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As with the geriatric psych unit's establishment in the 1990s, the Department of Human Services and the Legislature may have to change some laws and work with federal agencies on Medicaid reimbursements and other red tape before it would be feasible.
Schweitzer said the cost to the state of keeping people at the hospital is about $360 per day per person. She said a special nursing home unit would cost less.
The group will report to the governor's sex offender task force on Sept. 27. At the last task force meeting on July 28, Aging Services Director Linda Wright urged members to take up the issue of sex offenders living in nursing homes, some of whom caused problems.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Janell Cole at (701) 224-0830
