Douglas County task force remains hopeful to find solution for nursing home

CORSICA, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - In September, the Good Samaritan Society announced it would close its nursing home facility in Corsica due to staffing shortages.

A county task force has since stepped in, with the hope of keeping the senior care facility open, even after Good Sam leaves.

The original announcement of the closure caught some county residents off guard, but in a way, they weren’t surprised.

“We understand that the rural health landscape is very challenging in small communities,” Senior Health Care Taskforce member Rocky Nelson said. “The reimbursement structure through the state is challenging. I have a history with that as the prior administrator of this facility, but I know that it’s extremely challenging. Hearing it was not a big surprise. However, the response to the adversity and everything that the community has shown to try to make something work here has been very uplifting.”

The initial closure date of November 30th, 2025, came and went, but it has remained open in a smaller capacity due to a delay in state-mandated recertification of their Wagner facility. The Wagner facility is where the majority of Corsica Good Sam residents will be transferred to, but recent renovations in Wagner have stalled the consolidation.

With the situation still in limbo, the Douglas County Senior Health Care Taskforce remains hopeful that a solution can be found to allow the building to return to the community without “use-limiting covenants” and allow them to offer senior care there again.

“Hopefully, we can get to the point where we can get a chance to see if we can make it work,” said Nelson.

A chance is something the Senior Health Care Taskforce is still uncertain about. It’s something the communities affected by the closure will continue to push for.

The next closest nursing home is at least 25 miles away. There is a small assisted living facility down the street from the Good Sam building, but the nursing home closure would leave the entire county without many other senior care options, especially since the nursing home in Armour closed in 2022.

“Everyone sees a need for this,” Senior Health Care Taskforce member Logan Denning expressed. “We all love this town and love this area and county. We would love to continue our life here and not get to the end of it and have to go to a Mitchell or a Sioux Falls or another town like that.”

“Sometimes it takes something like this to open your eyes to how important it really is,” Nelson said. “It’s here in Corsica, but it’s a much bigger thing than just Corsica; it’s our county. We want to keep people in this town. We want to keep people in this county. We want them to be able to be here. However, we know that’s not really in our control at this time.”

The task force has been in open communication with Sanford and Good Sam representatives throughout the process, sitting down earlier this month to discuss their visions for the future. Douglas County leaders understand the challenges of rural healthcare. Possibly buying and operating it isn’t to prove a point, but rather one last effort to keep their seniors close to home for their long-term care.

“I think the most important thing for us is not that Good Sam or Sanford wants to leave. They have their business model, and they don’t see that working here and that’s ok with us. They cited staffing shortages and things like that. We would politely disagree. We see it as an opportunity for our community to come together and to provide this facility for our area. If they don’t think it can work here, we would at least like an opportunity to make it work. If we can’t, then it’s on us,” Denning explained.

Throughout those conversations, which Denning described as professional, no official decision was made either way. County leaders remain “cautiously optimistic” about their chances of getting the building back. If it is a yes and the county takes over the nursing home, they know there is plenty of research and work ahead of them. Until then, that chance is the hope that the county will cling to.

“In a way, it’s very exciting. It’s something that adversity can either make it a tough situation for you or it can make you all come together,” said Nelson.

Just 15 residents remain at the Corsica facility under limited staffing.

Good Samaritan Society President and CEO Nate Schema acknowledged the efforts to keep the facility operating and their conversations with the task force in a statement to Dakota News Now.

“Good Samaritan is privileged to serve seniors across South Dakota. Closure is always a last resort, but we cannot safely operate without a stable local workforce. In Corsica, persistent and worsening workforce shortages have left us without a sustainable path forward, despite extensive recruitment efforts. We are in the process of consolidating services to Wagner where we have made significant investments to modernize the facility and better meet the care needs of our residents.

We are actively collaborating with the community on a solution that meets their needs, including exploring the community’s interest in operating the building as a health care facility."

The next big domino to fall will be the official closure of the Good Samaritan Society Corsica building, but all parties are unsure of when that might be as they wait for the recertification in Wagner.