Cattaraugus County has been incorporated on a record of counties in
which there may be a feasible downsizing or closure of public and
private nursing houses.
The study concentrating on nursing homes recently came from the
Fee on Overall health Care Amenities in the 21st Century.
“That details wasn’t centered (only) on county facilities,
it was focused the county as a full,” explained Cattaraugus County
Director of Nursing Households John Ognibene. The two county-operate nursing
households are The Pines in each Olean and Machias.
“Due to the fact we work at this kind of a large occupancy amount, we are not
hunting to downsize our (quantity of) beds,” Ognibene reported.
The two nursing residences put together have 235 beds. The Pines in
Machias has 115 beds. Among the private nursing homes, The Waters of
Salamanca has 120 beds.
“The Olean facility has all of its beds occupied all of the
time,” Ognibene explained. “The Machias building has been occupied at 98
%. Individuals numbers are really higher, which is pretty superior for the
county. The larger occupancy signifies more reimbursement, Medicaid or
Medicare. Medicaid people are long term people and Medicare
inhabitants are people on rehabilitation.”
Ognibene noted that a marketing consultant had advised legislators very last year
that there was a 5-percent shortage of beds through the
county.
“In this report when they mentioned all individuals counties, that did
not include that there are ageing little one boomers and that there would
be a will need for extra beds as a end result,” Ognibene stated.
Cattaraugus County Legislature Chairman Gerard “Jess”
Fitzpatrick (R-Ellicottville) claimed in addition to the substantial
occupancy charges in the county’s nursing houses, there is a waiting
listing for beds at The Pines in Olean.
“The only place we are not comprehensive all the time is in rehabilitation
(in both equally nursing homes),” he stated. “That will come and goes. What
they’re making an attempt to do is retaining everyone in their houses.”
Cattaraugus County General public Wellness Director Barbara Hastings explained
there are at present no assisted dwelling plans in the county,
although persons have absent to other counties for people providers.
She stated there are other options, these as the county wellbeing
department’s long-expression dwelling treatment program, Nursing Houses Devoid of
Partitions. Other programs in New York point out incorporate traditional home
treatment courses.
“There are things in spot. There are initiatives likely on at
the condition level to broaden local community based products and services all over the
point out,” Hastings said.
Ultimately, the software to be utilised is the patient’s option.
“There are people today who require nursing house care too,” Hastings
mentioned. “There are folks who need to have that amount of care.”
Other counties mentioned as having a significant probable for attainable
closures.
These counties include things like: St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Oswego, Cayuga,
Tompkins, Tioga, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Niagara, Broome, Chenango,
Otsego, Delaware, Warren, Washington, Rensselaer, Albany,
Schenectady, Dutchess, Putnam, Nassau, Westchester and Kings
counties.
“Now that we have this info, the question’s `”What do we
do with it?”‘ said Monthly bill Van Slyke, spokesman for the Healthcare
Affiliation of New York Condition.
It will be important for the panel to get into account area
variables – like the percentage of its growing older inhabitants – before
earning any conclusions, he reported.
Statewide, the report confirmed about 14 percent of nursing home
inhabitants could potentially be cared for at property or in assisted
dwelling services. The Health and fitness Office estimates the charge of
nursing home treatment is just about double the price tag of assisted living
care.
The nursing house process in the point out prices $11 billion a 12 months,
most of which is compensated for by general public cash.
“Nursing properties need to be a previous vacation resort, and which is what a lot of
this is shifting toward,” said Michael Burgess of the New York State
Alliance for Retired Americans.
“We can not shift persons out of nursing houses devoid of an
different system in position,” Burgess claimed.
Occupancy fees in nursing households, meanwhile, are declining even
as the aged inhabitants carries on to increase. In 1994, occupancy was
at 97 % in nursing residences in the state that determine fell to 93
per cent in 2003.
“Men and women are shunning institutional care,” Sandman stated.
“The nursing residence program in New York state is way too large by any
measure,” stated David Sandman, executive director of the Commission
on Health and fitness Treatment Services in the 21st Century.
– The Affiliated Press contributed to this report.
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