Supervisor Baumgart tours Rocky Knoll

Rocky Knoll Health Care Center is located on a scenic 62-acre wooded hilltop parcel about four miles north of Plymouth along State Highway 67. It is the last of three Sheboygan County-owned facilities geared to people needing short- or long-term quality health care. It has been completely rebuilt in recent years into a modern health-care facility.

It first opened its doors in 1926 as a tuberculosis (TB) sanatorium with 80 beds that housed 30 youth and 50 adults. It had one of the first x-ray machines and each room was provided one of those new fancy broadcasting machines called a radio.

As food processing improved, such as the pasteurization of milk, and new antibiotic medicines were developed, the health care mission of Rocky Knoll slowly changed and by the 1950s it had completed its tuberculosis responsibilities to become a fully skilled health care service.

As a member of the Sheboygan County Board, it has been my goal to make a detailed tour of the different county facilities. Thus far, the effort has included the Sheboygan County Jail, deputy sheriff patrol ride-along, Sheboygan County detective’s office, county airport, county highway department, court system, Sunny Ridge (when it was county owned and again after it was sold), Office on Aging (now Division of Aging), District Attorney’s office, Sheboygan Marsh Park –

among others.

This day it was the Rocky Knoll Health Care Center.

Michael Taubenheim is the administer at Rocky Knoll. Originally from Sheboygan, he gained experience in the health care field with employment in California, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Virginia before being hired at Rocky Knoll. He has been involved in the industry since 1974 and has been a licensed administrator since 1979.

I met with Taubenheim for an interview and tour on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 10. He reported that Rocky Knoll is licensed for 195 beds, 37 of them for short-term care and 158 as long-term care. Since he came to Rocky Knoll, he and his staff have brought down the direct taxpayer support costs from $3.5 million in 2007 to a projected cost of $1.8 million for 2010. He pointed out, other than county support, approximate revenue they receive comes from Medicare (14 percent), Medicaid (60 percent), Insurance (6 percent), private pay (20 percent).

Taubenheim said the facility had about 160 resident beds filled at this time. The downtrend in the economy seems to have had some effect on the overall health care business, including that at Rocky Knoll. Their goal is to try to keep about 10-to-15 beds open to ensure someone needing access can quickly be accommodated. Although seldom an issue, he said the Sheboygan County residents get priority access first, outside county (or out-of-state) residents would be second. They will take any client so long as they can safely care for them.

It was stressed that Rocky Knoll has to follow both federal and state health care regulations. And, added on to this safeguard, Sheboygan County also has rules, regulations and committee oversight. Not only are local elected county supervisors assigned to the Health Care Center Committee, but county board members, such as myself, can tour the facility to ensure that the best care possible is being provided. The members of the Sheboygan County Health Care Center Committee include: Charles Conrady (chairperson), Roger Otten (vice-chairperson), Eustacio Medina (secretary) with Brain Hoffmann and Constance Ziegelbauer committee members. They hold one of their committee meetings right at Rocky Knoll on the third Monday of the month.

Next week: The Rocky Knoll Health Care Center tour.