History

History of Our Center

On June 10, 1965, the Barnesville Nursing Home opened its doors to provide care for seniors with this 76-bed facility. Facing financial problems in 1977, Unicare from Milwaukee came in as the managing corporation in 1977 through 1978. In 1979, Four Seasons from Oklahoma became the managing corporation. Then in February of 1980, Good Neighbor Care Centers of St. Paul bought the Care Center. The center at that time was one of 27 facilities owned by Good Neighbor, Minnesota's second largest operator of nursing homes. In 1992, Barnesville Care Center became an affiliate of the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society. On August 1, 2011, the center was purchased from Good Samaritan Society by Jim and Kathy Birchem and was renamed Clayco Care Center. By this time the number of licensed beds in the center were reduced from 76 to 35 to allow private rooms for the residents. 

On November 1, 2015, Clayco Care Center was purchased by Mark and Debra Rustad and was renamed Valley Care and Rehab. The nursing home became locally owned and operated for the first time in it's history with this acquisition.

The owners, Mark and Debra, moved to the Barnesville area in 2001 and live just west of town with their family near Baker, MN. Mark Rustad grew up in Fargo and graduated from Shanley High School. He received his B.S. in Business Accounting from Minnesota State University Moorhead. Upon graduation he started with RDO Equipment as store controller. For 12 years prior to becoming a nursing home administrator he worked as financial advisor for Merrill Lynch and UBS Financial. He has extensive experience in financial planning and business management. He completed his nursing home administration licensure through University of Minnesota in January of 2014 and assumed the administrator position at that same time. Mark is a member of Care Providers of Minnesota and is also involved in the Barnesville EDA, Leadership Barnesville, Lake Aggasiz Regional Library's Friends of the Library, and the Barnesville Main Street Program.

Debra Rustad grew up northwest of Minot ND and graduated from Kenmare High School. In 1991 she graduated with an Associates Degree in Accounting. In February of 2013 she started working for Clayco Care Center as a CNA and moved into the Social Service Designee position in June of that year. In December of 2014 she graduated with her AS-RN Degree from Minnesota State Community and Technical College Detroit Lakes. After working as RN and MDS Coordinator she moved into the Director of Nursing position in October of 2015. Debra is a member of MN-DONA, AANAC, and Care Providers of Minnesota.

Mark and Debra are dedicated to making sure Barnesville continues to offer a place for aging seniors to live and remain in their community. Their passion is working with seniors and providing a home-like environment where the resident’s voice and choices are heard. Being very hands on, you will likely see them in the hallway, passing a dinner tray, or assisting a resident with their needs.

We welcome you to contact us anytime for questions or information. We love what we do; helping others by offering housing options to the senior population is our passion and we take pride in our work and success.