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Knox County Nursing Home Receives State Grant
The Knox County Nursing Home is in line to receive funding to treat residents who are eligible to receive rehabilitative treatment for their obesity.

Knox County Nursing Home Administrator Marianne Wiesen says the nursing home was notified Wednesday they were awarded $200,000 from the Illinois Department of Public Health to create a bariatric care unit, the only one of it's kind in the area.

Wiesen says there's a great and growing need for solving people's obesity problems before they turn into major medical problems.

Wiesen tells WGIL it's a community wide effort to care for those who need it.

"I think it's a great service," Wiesen said. "I know there are people who seem to have prejudice against people who are overweight or any one of a number of things. We as a society make a pledge to take care of everybody, whether they smoke and get cancer from smoking...no matter what it is, we as a society have a responsibility."

Wiesen says the nursing home plans to convert a residential wing of the nursing home into a 21-bed treatment unit which includes 8 specialized bariatric rooms with bathrooms and lifts. She said she wants to make the unit a safe environment for those who work and utilize it.

She also said the nursing home is waiting to hear about another grant that may be coming for the construction of the bariatric unit which would create a number of construction jobs in the building process as well as nearly 20 jobs for workers inside of the nursing home.
08 13 09 by Newsroom
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