Sections

Neighborhoods

Features

Follow Us

NHI Newsletter

Some Favorite Sites

Government/ Community Links

To Buck Trend, Home Courts Rehab “Stars”

by Melissa Bailey | Aug 19, 2010 6:53 am

(1) Comment | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Health Care, The Heights

Melissa Bailey Photo “Star patient” Linda Burch sidestepped along a new set of parallel bars, as a Fair Haven Heights nursing home debuted a new wing designed to help seniors rehabilitate—and help the business survive at a time when its counterparts are struggling to keep doors open.

Burch (at left in photo), who’s recovering from respiratory problems and a badly fractured ankle, took the steps Wednesday with the help of Charlene Hancock (at right), an occupational therapist at the Paradigm Healthcare Center of New Haven

The two did exercises Wednesday afternoon in the newly renovated fitness center of the nursing home at 181 Clifton St., part of a new wing dedicated to short-term patients like Burch.

The wing isn’t an addition. It’s a reorganization and shift in purpose for the nursing home, which has perched on the hill near Fairmont Park since 1968.

With the new wing, Paradigm hopes to attract more short-term patients like Burch, and overcome a dependency on long-term Medicaid patients that is bedeviling other homes.

Wednesday’s open house took place at a time when other nursing homes in the Hill and West Rock neighborhoods are struggling to survive, facing closure and empty beds.

The three-story facility at Clifton Street—better known under a former name, the Clifton House—is now one of six nursing homes in the state run by a company called Paradigm Healthcare Development. Even as the industry shifts towards more at-home care, the New Haven site has maintained a high occupancy rate, according to Jaime Faucher, the regional director of operations for the six Connecticut sites.

Right now, 148 of its 150 beds in New Haven are occupied, according to Faucher.

The census, which has stayed between 94 and 98 percent, has been key to keeping the nursing home going strong, said Donna Stango, the nursing home’s administrator. Occupancy at the Jewish Home For The Aged, which faces either closure or a sale to a for-profit company, has dropped to 77 percent; according to industry norms, a home needs 94 percent occupancy to meet its bills.

More Medicare, Not Medicaid

Stango (pictured) credited a loyal staff with retaining patients by providing consistent care around the clock. The 160 workers belong to SEIU 1199. While the home changed hands four times in the last decade—Paradigm took over just a year ago—the majority of the staff has been there for 10 to 15 years, she said.

Paradigm’s Clifton Avenue site serves a mixed population—about 120 long-term patients, most of whom are on Medicaid, and about 30 beds for short-term patients undergoing rehab. Nurses hand out meds and tend to infected wounds. Therapists like Hancock help patients regain skills to return home. (By contrast, over 90 percent of the Jewish Home’s patients are on Medicaid.)

Like many nursing homes, Paradigm has felt a strain as Medicaid reimbursement rates have failed to keep up with the cost of living. Paradigm isn’t facing closure, as others are; it’s embarking on a new strategy to keep the business going.

The new long-term strategy lies in short-term care.

The short-term visitors come to Paradigm post-surgery, or after bouts of illness. They may have fallen and broken a hip. They may have trouble breathing.

These short-term patients tend to be covered by Medicare, the federal health insurance for patients over 64 years old, rather than Medicaid, which covers the poor. Medicare reimbursement rates are much higher than Medicaid rates.

“In order to survive, we need more of the Medicare” patients, explained Laura Diehl, director of admissions at New Haven’s Paradigm site.

To reach that population, Faucher said, Paradigm is focusing on improving short-term care at all six facilities through renovations and reorganization.

In New Haven, that meant closing the fitness center for a couple of weeks, knocking down a wall, and reopening it in expanded form.

New Haven patients can now lift weights, walk along parallel bars, or play sports on a Wii game system in a more spacious, light-filled room. The new fitness center doubles as a life skills classroom, where patients can relearn how to cook and maneuvering from a wheelchair into the bathroom. The kitchen was relocated from a common area, which has been converted into a spruced-up cafe (pictured).

The nursing home is also in the process of reorganizing the bedrooms to make short-term patients more comfortable.

Before, short-term patients were placed into cozy rooms with two or three long-term patients.

Paradigm decided to split up the populations, converting the whole second floor into a wing for short-term visitors. Those patients will be placed into more spacious rooms with only one or two roommates, said Diehl. The idea is that they will share a room with another person with short-term goals, so they can help each other along with therapy plans.

The renovations, which are halfway complete, will cost about $300,000, said Faucher. The improvements aim to both boost Medicaid rates, as well as lure in more short-term patients. Right now, the facility serves about 150 short-term patients per year.

“We’re hoping to increase that,” he said.

Short-term patients like Burch can help generate business if they return to their communities and spread the word about a positive experience. They also may return later down the road, if they ever need short or long-term care, said Diehl.

Burch was getting ready to leave the facility in the next few days after a 10-day rehabilitation.

Burch’s occupational therapist, Hancock, helped her into a chair after a round of squats at the bar. Hancock beamed at her progress.

“She’s my star patient,” she said.

Share this story with others.

Share |

Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comment

posted by: Vince CT, USA on August 20, 2010  7:06am

I have been to that home. What a turnaround. I’d be happy to place a loved one there, particularly for rehabilitative services… Sadly, many of our poor elderly are being short-changed by governmental reimbursement policies which are endangering their ability to get the kind of care that only a Long Term Care facility can offer…

get ANDI

Events Calendar

view the full calendar »

SeeClickFix »

Make right hand lane of Chapel westbound a bus-only (SBS/BRT) lane
Feb 10, 2012 4:32 pm
Address: 745-777 Chapel St New Haven, CT 06510, USA
Rating: 5

Buses are frequently delayed. Right hand lane from State towards Temple should be...

more »
Abandoned bicycle
Feb 10, 2012 9:22 pm
Address: 915 State St New Haven, CT 06511, USA
Rating: 3

This bike has been locked to the post for a year. The tire is flat and the chain is...

more »

Flyerboard

Sponsors

N.H.I. Site Design & Development

smartpill design