Albany County Executive Mike Breslin announced a long-term care plan for the county’s elderly residents that included the phasing out and closing of the Albany County Nursing Home on Thursday, Sept. 10 at the Watervliet Senior Citizen Center.
Breslin’s plan has several elements, including placing residents currently living in the county nursing home in other private nursing homes in and out of the county; installing the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (or PACE) program that has the elderly spending time during the day in a facility and spending nights in their own home; and trading nursing home beds for assisted living beds-part of a state proposal that was passed with the budget.
Breslin said during the event that just because the county has become accustomed to having a nursing home does not mean it needs to continue to have one and that having a nursing home is costing county taxpayers over $80,000 per year per resident that stays at the nursing home.
For more on this story, check back at www.spotlightnews.com, or read the Wednesday, Sept. 16 print edition of the Colonie Spotlight.`