About

Rural Living Environments has provided person-centered services to the Intellectual and Developmentally Disabled community since 2003. We have been serving both adult and adolescents with higher behavioral needs in our residential and supported employment programs since the beginning. Today we have expanded those services to include Crisis and Respite services.

Our Ely Crisis House was developed in response to Minnesota Department of Health and Human Services need in 2016 for Crisis/Respite services. Rural Living Environments decided in 2017 to build a new residential Crisis/Respite facility tailored around the needs of individuals we have served. This new house is ADA compliant and all of the entrances are handicapped accessible.

This four-bed facility is based on a concept of a two plus two design with ample space to prevent the feeling of confinement. We provide Crisis and Respite services to both adolescents and adults.

Design

The Ely Crisis/Respite house concept was conceived with the help from various stake holders. We would like to thank some of the stake holders for their contribution to our project. They include St. Louis County Staff, City of Ely, (Contractor) Roseth Construction and the Crisis Staff of Rural Living Environments. The process began in early 2017 with variety of concepts discussed, with construction concluding in November of 2018. The house was designed on the bases of two plus two design and is completely handicapped accessible. What we mean by that is we designed two apartments like areas and two conventional bed rooms to better serve people. The open floor design allows for plenty of space to meet each person needs.