Long Island senior care options expand as population ages
Listen to this articleTHE BLUEPRINT:
- With nursing home costs reaching $20,000/month, elder law experts urge advance planning with trusts and directives.
- St. Johnland in Kings Park offers NYS-certified stroke and TBI rehab, along with assisted living and long-term care.
- Gurwin Healthcare in Commack now offers a Life Plan Community with independent, assisted living, and memory care on one campus.
- Parker Jewish in New Hyde Park provides sub-acute rehab, home care, memory care, and in-facility dialysis for seniors.
As baby boomers age and birthrates decline, Long Island’s population, like the rest of the country, is getting older, too. According to the 2020 Census, there were 55.8 million people aged 65 and over, representing 16.8% of the U.S. population.
With advancing age also comes greater need for medical, rehab and memory care services at home or in a group setting.
Noting that the average cost for nursing home care is $20,000 a month, assisted living: $10,000 a month; and Life Plan Communities—where you buy into the facility and are guaranteed care for the rest of your life—ranges from $250,000 to $500,000, plus monthly maintenance fees, Jennifer Cona, founder/managing partner of Melville-headquartered Cona Elder Law, said, “The cost of care is very, very expensive and can wipe a family out in short order.”
Typically, people move to assisted living or another facility with the proceeds from the sale of their home, then use their Social Security, pension and IRA income to pay monthly fees, notes Cona, who recommends setting up an irrevocable trust–which must be done at least five years before entering a facility.
Be sure to have advanced directives: a power of attorney, health care proxy and living will, advises Cona.
“If someone becomes incapacitated, which happens all the time, you need someone to act for you,” Cona said.
Safe and supportive
St. Johnland Healthcare in Kings Park provides sub-acute rehabilitation services, long -term care, and specialized stroke and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation in its 250-bed facility. There’s an assisted living facility on the same campus with 100 private and semi-private rooms, for elderly individuals that need some assistance with daily living.
Sub-acute rehabilitation is for patients that need physical therapy, occupational therapy, and/or speech therapy after a hospitalization to return back to their homes, notes CEO Michael Tretola.
“St. Johnland’s Stroke/TBI Unit is the only NYS-Certified Unit in Nassau and Suffolk counties that provides excellence in restorative and rehabilitative care to those who have suffered a stroke or head injury,” Tretola said.
Long-term care services are provided for patients living at the facility who require medical assistance and nursing care.
Nursing center patients typically are admitted after a hospital stay, while assisted living residents come directly from the community.
“Our goal in the nursing center is to return residents to the community,” said Tretola, adding, “Caring for seniors is the greatest responsibility we have as a society.”
A full continuum of care
With the recent addition of the 129-apartment Fountaingate Gardens independent living. Gurwin Healthcare System became the newest Life Plan Community on Long Island. The other components of Gurwin are the 210-apartment assisted living, which includes 18 more affordable studios, and a 460-bed skilled nursing facility for short-term rehab and long-term care.
“You can consider it a full service approach to accessing all of our services,” said Stuart Almer, president and CEO. “The Gurwin continuum can easily be accessed through the Life Plan Community.”
In years past, many people entered the Gurwin system for rehab or dialysis, coming directly from the hospital, and sometimes staying on for long-term care. Now, many people enter through independent or assisted living.
Gurwin offers all of its services at its 36-acre Commack campus, including an in-house pharmacy and physical, occupational and speech therapies.
“If one is in the independent living, they may be more comfortable knowing that the services are there, but not necessarily within their facility,” said Almer. “ It’s all available here when and if individuals need it.”
For individuals with Alzheimer’s or dementia, there are 14 apartments in assisted living and 60 beds of the nursing facility dedicated for memory care, where there is also an immersion room offering virtual reality to help reorient and calm people with these conditions.
“It’s a different level of monitoring
and security for that particular program
to keep people safe,” added Almer.
Rehab, dialysis and more
“The Parker Jewish Institute is important to the community because we serve a high-need, high-clinical-acuity patient,” said Michael Rosenblut, president and CEO of the 527-bed New Hyde Park facility, which also has a secured 42-bed memory care unit for those with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
clinical-acuity patient.’
The facility offers sub-acute or short-term care–for 15 to 30 days—such as rehab (physical, occupational and respiratory) or IV therapy, for patients just discharged from the hospital.
“We’re then able to follow that patient once we work with them for rehab or IV antibiotics and then we’re able to place them onto Parker homecare,” Rosenblut said.
If patients at home are not feeling well, they can contact “Parker at Your Door,” the home physician visiting division, where they can immediately speak to a nurse practitioner by phone or have someone
visit the house.
“Some people can’t travel as much: We bring the services to them, right to their living room,” Rosenblut said.
People in need of dialysis can utilize Parker’s home service or do so as a patient, for both short and long- term care.
“What’s nice about that for the people who live at Parker, they don’t have to go out in the inclement weather to another dialysis center. They can receive all their services here,” Rosenblut said.
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