A Slingerlands nursing care provider is scrapping an approved expansion in favor of a design that would bring new industry developments into play.
The Eddy Village at Beverwyck will seek the approval of the Town of Bethlehem to build two 12-bed buildings in the greenhouse style of nursing home care. Developed over the past six years and spreading in popularity nationwide, greenhouse design focuses on creating a community atmosphere for small groups of seniors who require skilled nursing care.
`I think over the last 30 years nursing home operators have tried their best to make nursing home environments what they’d call homelikebut this actually goes beyond that. It actually houses people in a setting that is more like a home,` said Beverwyck Executive Director Douglas Miller.
The proposal features private rooms with private baths and a large kitchen/dining room where aides prepare all meals for residents, who eat together. Residents who have lived in these environments tend to have significantly increased happiness and health, said Miller. Northeast Health, which owns Beverwyck, is replacing its traditional nursing home in Cohoes with a series of greenhouse-style homes.
`Although this sounds so simple, it’s somewhat revolutionary for the nursing home industry,` Miller said.
Each building would total 10,000 square feet, a decrease from the floor space approved in the original Planned Development District.
In 2006, the town approved plans to build a 30,000-square-foot facility containing 18 Alzheimer’s care beds and 20 skilled nursing care beds. Beverwyck held off on construction to industry conditions, said Miller, and during that time there were also advancements in the field of nursing home care.
Though it seems like decreasing the number of beds would be a more costly endeavor, by consolidating services like food preparation under one roof instead of running it out of a large cafeteria, there are cost offsets, said Miller.
Beverwyck operates on a private pay model, and Miller said that a room in the greenhouse development would likely run $345 a day, which would include all meals, medicine, therapy, etc.
The proposal to amend the Beverwyck PDD will be before the Planning Board on Tuesday, Dec. 15. If the planning process goes smoothly, a May groundbreaking would be hoped for, with the facility being completed around this time next year. The cost of the development was estimated at $6 million.
Town Director of Economic Development and Planning Michael Morelli said that while the original plan was approved, the Planning Board must do a full review on the proposed amendment. Since the project is smaller, though, it might go faster.
`Obviously it’s a new proposal from what was originally approved, but they have to look at any potential environmental impacts and the project as a whole,` Morelli said. `If anything, this will have less impacts because it’s a smaller scale project than what was approved.`
Beverwyck opened in Slingerlands in 1993 with 85 beds. It now serves 220 residents in independent living and 45 residents in assisted living now.
Part of the impetus to pursue an expansion was to round out the campus’s offerings, said Miller, to allow those residents progressing beyond an assisted living situation a place to go without having to leave the town.
`We wanted to make sure we could provide that here,` Miller said. `It keeps Delmar residents in Delmar.`
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