Heal 20 Awards Announced: Nine Organizations to Develop Community-based Long Term Care Alternatives

Nine entities in NYS were recently notified that they will be receiving grants from the state to improve delivery of long term care services and to develop community-based alternatives to traditional nursing home care in their community.

The grants, totaling approximately $150 million, are the result of a competitive grant opportunity offered by the New York State Department of Health (DOH) and the Dormitory Authority of New York State (DASNY) to fund projects that maintain access to necessary, appropriately-sized nursing home facilities while also developing less restrictive options that are preferred by New York's seniors.

The funding is provided through Phase 20 of the Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law of New York State (HEAL NY) and the Federal-State Reform Partnership (F-SHRP).

Each of the 9 grants will bring millions of dollars to local communities to address the need in those communities to maintain the necessary number of nursing home beds while increasing the availability of other less restrictive, alternative levels of care.

The 9 HEAL 20 grants will result in the decertification of more than 292 nursing home beds, and will be used for such things as:

  • Converting semi-private rooms to private rooms;
  • Developing alternative levels of long term care in communities, including Adult Day Health Care and Long Term Home Health Care Programs;
  • Renovating and refurbishing existing facilities to modernize and make them more able to meet current needs of residents; and
  • Constructing new buildings for senior housing assisted living, and adult day health care.

HEAL 20 Projects

Lutheran Retirement Homestrong> (Chautauqua County, $11,709,000) will decertify 26 nursing home beds by converting 26 semi-private rooms to 26 private rooms with private baths. HEAL 20 funds will also be used to move nursing home support personnel offices into vacant space and renovate vacated nursing home space to create apartments for seniors with technology support and case management services.

Wyoming County ($4,756,737) will decertify 22 nursing home beds and convert the empty space into alternative levels of long term care services, including an Adult Medical Day Care program in conjunction with the Long Term Home Health Care (LTHHC) program. The decertified beds will also allow for a renovation of the existing floor plan to a more contemporary design to better meet current needs.

Jewish Home Lifecare (Bronx, $26,308,000) will decertify 72 nursing home beds, renovate 2 existing buildings, and construct a new 68 bed Enriched Housing Program and Assisted Living Program facility.

Rutland Nursing Home, Inc. (Kings County, $4,618,052) will permanently decertify 60 skilled nursing home beds, relocate their pediatric unit, renovate their ventilator unit, expand the space of their existing Adult Day Health Care program, and upgrade the facility's sprinkler system.

Wartburg Home of the Evangelical Church (Westchester County, $27,590,000) will vacate and demolish a building, permanently decertifying 30 nursing home beds. The building will be replaced with a new 50-bed rehabilitation center which will be comprised of 40 beds from an existing rehabilitation unit and 10 beds from the demolished building. The new building will also accommodate social and medical model Adult Day Health Care programming. HEAL 20 funds will also be used to construct 60 units of affordable senior housing with supportive services.

United Hebrew Geriatric Center (Westchester County, $2,500,000) will renovate and refurbish a former nursing facility to create a 70-bed senior housing residence that will include an Adult Home with 40 Special Needs Assisted Living Residence (SNALR) beds and HUD-202 independent living housing with 30 units.

St. Luke's Residential Health Care Facility (Oswego County, $8,008,000) will purchase land and construct a new 60 bed Assisted Living Program (ALP) facility. Sixteen of these ALP beds will serve individuals with identified early to middle stages of a dementia-related illness (SNALR).

Mohawk Valley Network, Inc. (Oneida County, $31,329,508) will decertify 82 nursing home beds, construct a new facility to include an 8-station renal dialysis unit, a 50-unit Adult Day Health Care program, and a rehabilitation gymnasium, and provide for other site improvements.

Samaritan Medical Center (Jefferson County, $33,975,208) is receiving the largest grant and will use the funds to provide for the construction of a new 168-bed facility to be built in Watertown and for projects to create 128 new Assisted Living Program beds in Jefferson County.

For more information about these HEAL 20 projects, contact the Division of Assisted Living.