NorthJersey.com, NJ
Nov 23 2004
Armenian center to open new sub-acute care unit
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
By DEENA YELLIN
STAFF WRITER
EMERSON – The Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center will celebrate
the opening of its new Sub-Acute Care Unit today at an open-house
party for the public.
The state-of-the-art unit will provide short-term rehabilitation
services for seniors who are well enough to leave a hospital but need
extra support before returning home. The unit contains 10 private
rooms in a designated area that is separate from the nursing home.
Most of the unit’s patients will pay for their care through Medicare
or private insurance.
The new unit is designed for intermediate care, said Tom Miller, the
center’s administrator. “It would be ideal for someone who just had
hip replacement surgery or knee replacement and the hospital would
kick them out after about three days. Here, they could stay for a
few weeks.”
Miller said the unit is opening at an opportune time. “There is a
real need in the health-care community for this type of service.
Nobody else around here is offering this, because Pascack Valley
[Hospital] recently closed their unit that provided this level of
care,” he said.
The Armenian Center is opening the Sub-Acute Care Unit in the same
facility where its Comprehensive Personal Care Home for assisted
living was located until it closed about six months ago. Renovating
that facility to create the new unit cost approximately $100,000,
Miller said.
The assisted-living facility closed because there was a lot of
competition from other, similar facilities in the area. “We felt that
this was a better use of our resources,” Miller said. “We’ve already
had a lot of inquiries about the new unit.”
The Armenian Center has provided a home and care to senior citizens
for more than 60 years. The original building that housed the center
was purchased in 1943 by three Armenian founders for $8,900 in cash.
Although it initially served the Armenian community, it later became a
nursing home serving seniors of all backgrounds. The center, which has
undergone several expansions, is now at its capacity with 78 clients.
The new unit will open officially today, but the first patients won’t
be allowed to move in until December.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress