Albany County is finally willing to work with the nursing home it has, rather than try to run from it.
The county is pouring $2.46 million into upgrading the current facility near Albany Airport with renovated rooms and hallways, a new roof and integrating solar technology. The county Legislature is also forming a local development corporation to run the facility, and it’s working with Albany Medical Center to have on-site medical care.
This should have been the decision long ago, before all the talk about building a new facility on the former site of Heritage Park or transforming the former Tobin’s meat factory into a nursing home. Instead, prior administrations have tried to distance themselves from the current facility, and as a result allowed it to become run down and ill equipped to give proper care to its residents.
We can hardly blame the county for dreaming of a better nursing home. As the debate dragged on, the current facility became an albatross to the taxpayers. A few years ago, the budget deficit was $12 million — a lot more than what the county was comfortable with.
But in an age where taxpayers demand fiscal responsibility from their elected officials, spending tens of millions of dollars to build a new nursing home simply couldn’t be done. So, all of the talk about a brand new facility had to be shelved, which meant making the most of the one the county had.
Still, Executive Dan McCoy talked about distancing the county from its nursing home by privatizing it. That naturally raised a lot of concerns, not the least of which was the effect privatizing the nursing home would have on staffing levels, quality of care and the cost of living there. The fact that the county legislature outright rejected McCoy’s bill speaks volumes about the fear there was surrounding privatizing the nursing home because the legislature usually is in lockstep with the county executive on everything.
So if a new facility couldn’t be built and if it couldn’t be run by a private company in partnership with the county, there was only one option left — the current nursing home had to be renovated from top to bottom, and it had to be a complete overhaul.
The good news is this renovation won’t cost county taxpayers a single cent. By bonding the project, everything is covered — from the solar panels to the recently installed equipment that helps staff members lift patients with limited mobility. After all the money the nursing home has cost taxpayers, this bond ensures county residents won’t be watching their money go into this project.
More importantly, the renovations will hopefully go a long way towards further reducing the nursing home’s operating deficit, if not turning it into a surplus. With many new nursing homes being built these days, it’s been very difficult for the county to compete. By making the necessary improvements, the county can offer a nursing home with many of the same amenities at a more reasonable cost. As McCoy said last week at the unveiling of the new equipment, “We’re turning this nursing home back to what it was … a place people fought to get into, a place where people want their loved ones.”
Sometimes, it’s better to fix the problem than run away from it.