Assisted living, memory loss facility being pursued

For the past several months the Swift County-Benson Hospital Foundation has been researching the possibility of building an assisted living facility that would include independent living quarters as well as a dementia unit.
Last Thursday, foundation representatives met with the Benson Economic Development Authority (EDA) to give it an overview of the proposed project and ask it to consider playing a key role in the initial financing. At its meeting Monday night, the council discussed the role Benson could play in facilitating the project through its EDA.
The idea for the facility started with a discussion at a SCBH Foundation meeting.
 “At one of our meetings, a member of the foundation board mentioned that people in the area had expressed concern that loved ones had to leave Benson when they could no longer live in their homes,” Foundation President Jerry Peterson said.
That discussion led to board members researching the feasibility of building an assisted living facility with a dementia unit. As an ad-hoc committee of the foundation board looked further into possibilities, it met with Peter Jesh, the chief executive officer of Summit Corporation.
In reviewing state demographic data, Jesh saw that Benson was ranked high in its need for such a facility.