Residents of Greenwood Village Assisted Living in Kalispell are in shock and disbelief after receiving an eviction notice Friday that gives them 30 days to find a new place to live.

The facility, home to 30 elderly and disabled residents, will close April 1.

“To me it’s a disaster and a deep disappointment,” Greenwood Village resident Dorothy Gress said. “There’s fear in my heart of where I’m going to live. We’re just broken-hearted.”

Gress, 86, has a Medicaid waiver that has allowed her to live at Greenwood Village Assisted Living since 2011. There are few Medicaid beds available at other assisted-living centers, she said. Gress said she has enjoyed the independence and activities offered at the facility.

“I’ve enjoyed the social part of it so much,” she added.

Dennis Rasmussen has owned and operated Greenwood Village Assisted Living for about 16 years. He did not return a phone call from the Inter Lake, but stated in the closure notice that “management understands the inconvenience that is placed on each resident to find a new residence.

“The decision to cease operations was not taken lightly, and an apology is given and is heartfelt,” Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen further said the facility is obligated to provide sufficient preparation and orientation to residents “to ensure safe and orderly transfer or discharge from the facility.”

The closure comes as the Montana Department of Health and Human Services is investigating a complaint filed recently over alleged neglect of a woman who suffered a stroke at Greenwood Village and later died.

John Ebelt, public information officer for the state health department, said the Quality Assurance Division Licensure Bureau has received four complaints related to Greenwood Village Assisted Living within the past 12 months.

One complaint was not validated. Two complaints were validated and the facility responded and corrected the deficiencies, Ebelt said. He said he didn’t immediately have information detailing what the deficiencies were.

“There is still one ongoing, open investigation,” he said.

State officials spent a couple of days at Greenwood Village Assisted Living about three weeks ago.

Rumors were circulating among residents that the state was positioning to close the assisted living center, but that is not true, Ebelt said.

“We’ve not taken negative licensing action,” he said. “We are not closing the facility; it’s voluntary.”

Judith Schenck, 72, is among the Greenwood Village residents who are worried about where they will be living come April 1.

“We’re nervous until we get our future settled,” she said. “I’ve found a tiny house [to rent], 600 square feet. I hope and pray I can get the little house.”

Schenck’s 51-year-old daughter, Elsie Milliren, also resides at Greenwood Village Assisted Living. Milliren has spinocerabellar degeneration, a genetic, progressive brain disease for which there is no cure. Schenck’s husband and son already have died from the disease and another son also has been diagnosed.

Milliren said stress makes her condition much worse, and the stress of having to relocate weighs on her.

“If I had a year I could be put on waiting lists,” Milliren said. “I have a month. Where do I go?”

She, too, is assisted by the Medicaid waiver program and has already determined there are few, if any available Medicaid beds locally. A nursing home likely will be her only option.

In his letter to residents, Rasmussen promised residents they will have a place to reside “in a cooperative and coordinated effort between the resident, management, the ombudsmen, the family and management of other facilities.

“Rest assured that as you meet your financial obligation to Greenwood Village Assisted Living, proper care will be given to you and there will not be a time when you are not being taken care of by a licensed assisted living facility or other health care facility,” Rasmussen wrote.

Rasmussen and his wife, Beverly, are longtime owners and operators of Greenwood Village Mobile Home Park and RV Park next to the assisted living facility on Oregon Street below the railroad trestle.

In 2006 Rasmussen closed the Greenwood Trailer Court in Whitefish, a mobile home park that had been there for 60 years and was home to 55 trailer owners. He sent out eviction notices in that situation, too, giving residents six months to find new homes.

The Whitefish Housing Authority stepped in to help longtime residents of the Whitefish trailer park — many of whom were elderly — find new places to live.

Rasmussen cleared the 12-acre plot just north of Mountain Mall in Whitefish, with the intention of selling the land amid a growth spurt in the Flathead Valley.

That former trailer park remains undeveloped.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.