Kitchen and dining facility ready for service

TORRINGTON – After three years of planning and construction, the Goshen Healthcare Community is set to unveil a new food service facility that is second to none. The new kitchen and dining facility will seat approximately 80 people, have outside dining facilities and employ some of the most up to date and advanced food preparation equipment available in the industry.
“This facility has helped us shutoff the highway to Scottsbluff for senior care,” said Paul Novak, president of the Goshen Care Center Board of Directors that owns the facility. “We can do it all right here.”
To be clear, and less confusing, the healthcare community had been, for years, known as the Goshen Care Center. Three years ago, when Banner Health notified the care center board that it no longer wished to operate and manage the facility, the board began a search for a new group to operate the nursing home. After an extensive search and vetting process, the board choose Welcov Healthcare to take over operations. Welcov changed the name to the Goshen Healthcare Community and part of the agreement between Welcov and the board is that a new dining facility would be built.
The new facility, christened the Paul Novak Annex, in honor of Novak’s 40 years of commitment to the care center, was funded with a $1 million grant from a Wyoming Business Council and $1.2 million WBC loan, which was facilitated by the Goshen County Economic Development Corporation.“We couldn’t have done this without the help of Goshen County Economic Development,” Novak said. “But you know what I’m really proud of; we brought the project in under budget and all with local help. We had a local general contractor [Goshen County Construction] and all local subs.

“Also, to get the help from economic development we had to guarantee that we would add 15 to 18 new staff. But actually we’ve added 20 new staff
Cindy Fonger, the centers head cook said staff will prepare 300 meals a day, including many specialized menus to satisfy the special nutritional needs of many of the center’s residents.
“Our menu rotates about every 22 days,” Fonger said. “But we’ll be able to easily handle any specialized needs or just cook a hamburger if that’s what somebody wants.”
“Plus, we now have a secure place where someone can go outside and have a cup of coffee or just to visit,” added Novak, nodding to the new patio area with tables, chairs and benches.
Although, the facility will not begin serving residents until March 1, the board of directors will dedicate the new facility at 2 p.m. today (Friday) and then host an open house until 7 p.m. that evening. The dedication and open house is open to the public and Novak encourages every Goshen County resident to come out check out the new addition to the community.
“The facility is truly a Goshen County facility,” Novak said. “We have residents from every community in Goshen County. That is who the facility was built for and our residents are our priority when it comes to admission.”