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HealthCare Chaplaincy is developing the world’s first spirit-centered, enhanced assisted living community residence for people with serious, progressive illnesses (pending New York State Department of Health approval). Residents will receive personal care, emotional and spiritual support, and nursing care, and will have access to on-site medical care.
The Residence will be a national model to demonstrate how spirit-centered care can improve the quality of life for individuals who cannot or choose not to live alone.
Each of the 100 residents will receive, as needed:
- A one bedroom apartment
- Two meals daily
- Transportation
- Help with personal care (bathing, grooming, dressing)
- Medication assistance and monitoring
- Access to full medical services on site
- Housekeeping and personal laundry service
- One-to-one visits by professional chaplains and students, support from social workers and
psychiatric professionals
The multi-use building with house along with The Residence HealthCare Chaplaincy’s offices, and research and teaching facilities as well as a medical practice that focuses on gerontology. It will be located in Manhattan and meet high standards for Green buildings. The multi-use building is now in development with opening slated for mid-2012.
Leading the development of the Spirit-Centered Residence are HealthCare Chaplaincy Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jeanne Lee, who has more than 15 years of experience leading long term healthcare organizations, and Claire Haaga Altman, Senior Vice President. Ms. Altman founded and directed for 20 years, Housing & Services, Inc., a nonprofit housing organization where she was responsible for $300 million in affordable housing development. She developed and chaired the board of Highbridge-Woodycrest Center, an innovative skilled nursing facilities for families and adults with HIV/AIDS.
For more information, please contact Ms. Altman at chaltman@healthcarechaplaincy.org or by phone at 212-644-1111 x152.
Experts Endorse Chaplaincy’s New Enhanced Assisted Living Model
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| On April 22nd, HealthCare Chaplaincy joined with AARP and International Longevity Center to lead a forum on the role of quality assisted living in the long term care continuum. |
On April 22, 2009 HealthCare Chaplaincy joined with AARP and International Longevity Center to lead a forum on the role of quality assisted living in the long term care continuum.
Attending were more than 30 thought leaders from the public, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, including representatives from AARP, New York State government, United Hospital fund, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Milbank Memorial Fund, John A. Hartford Foundation, Visiting Nurse Service, Village Center for Care and the Council of Senior Centers and Services.
New York State Department of Health Deputy Commissioner Mark Kissinger predicted that the future of long term care lies with residential settings that are more flexible than traditional nursing homes. He said the recently passed State Budget Bill would decertify 6,000 nursing home beds and replace them with 6,000 Medicaid-supported assisted living units. Deputy Commissioner Kissinger encouraged the development of innovative care models that meet consumer needs better.
Rick Moody, AARP’s Director of Academic Affairs, said that Chaplaincy’s model for an enhanced living residence was innovative and “on the cusp of something that needs to be done.”
The Rev. Dr. Walter J. Smith, SJ, Chaplaincy President and CEO, described the model: “As many people age, they become detached from the social capital that they have been building over their lifetimes. The residence will provide spirit-centered care for persons with chronic progressive illnesses who cannot or choose not to live at home, but want to live in a community setting.”
Ruth Finkelstein, Vice President for Health Policy at The New York Academy of Medicine, said that from talking with older adults she has learned “the importance of social connectedness and the centrality of community to well being.”
David Gould, Senior Vice President of the United Hospital Fund, emphasized the need to incorporate assisted living within the long term care continuum. He said that the current “silos” of various long term care options make it difficult for consumers to understand what services are available and to access those they need.
Dan Fox, Chair Emeritus of the Milbank Memorial Fund, observed that end of life care should be part of proper disease management and queried whether cost savings created with better end of life care could support the country’s long term care budget.
International Longevity Center President Robert Butler, MD, a leading gerontologist, psychiatrist and Pulitzer-Prize winning author, noted that quality end of life care is important as public policy and for the economy. He cited evidence from the recent DAVOS Economic Forum that longevity correlates with a country’s economic health.
To view a short conceptual video about the spirit-centered, enhanced living residence, click here.
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