For more than 50 years, Chapel View Health Care Center has served the Hopkins, MN, area. Cassia plans to continue that service for decades to come in a new building adjacent to the existing one.
A History of Community Ministry
Chapel View began as a ministry of the nearby Gethsemane Lutheran Church in 1971. The two buildings shared the block with Mizpah United Church of Christ, which dated back to 1888.
“The history of the block was community ministry,” says Andrew Centanni, Cassia’s vice president of building design and development. “They were all working together on the same mission.”
Augustana Care carried on Chapel View’s ministry when purchasing the community, which continued when Augustana officially merged with Elim Care to form Cassia in 2020.
The Need for a Change
Chapel View’s two-story building is split into four levels connected by an elevator, stairways and long ramps. This setup requires staff to accompany residents every time they go to a dining room, courtyard, chapel or the main entrance.
Current dining spaces are small and inefficient, leading to residents eating in shifts or in their bedrooms. Delivering meals to those decentralized dining rooms is also not convenient.
The only large common space exists on the main floor lobby. This makes it more difficult for residents to attend events and activities, greatly decreasing the sense of community.
Currently, the care center has 100 of 108 licensed beds in service. Of those, 28 are in private rooms, 16 are in single bed rooms with shared bathrooms and 56 are in double bed rooms with four residents sharing a bathroom.
Furthermore, there are only four bathing facilities in the care center.
Other challenges include nursing station locations and limited therapy spaces inconveniently located in the basement.
The Solution
After Mizpah Church closed in 2022, Cassia purchased the building and began planning for a new care center on the property.
In late 2024, crews demolished the church. Construction of the new care center will begin in spring of 2025 and is scheduled for completion and occupancy in late 2026.
The new building will provide all amenities on a level floor so residents can navigate easier and with less assistance.
Dining rooms will be large and conveniently located so all residents on each floor can dine together.
Each neighborhood in the new community will have a lounge and dayroom for residents to enjoy with friends and family. All residents will also have the ability to access outdoor courtyards.
Cassia is replacing the 108 licensed beds with 80 private rooms and four split double rooms, for a total of 88 beds. All the new rooms will have bathrooms including showers.
Nursing stations will be centralized and include private offices for charting and conference rooms for conversations with residents’ loved ones.
Therapy spaces will now be front and center in the new care center.
By constructing a new care center, Cassia will be able to create a significant impact on the community, residents and staff both now and in the future.