Wartburg Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of State-of-the-Art Rehabilitation and Adult Day Services Center of Excellence and Its Regional Leadership in Patient Care

During a recent breakfast celebration for 70 doctors, social workers, discharge nurses and trustees, Wartburg executives proudly celebrated the one-year anniversary of the opening of their free-standing, sub-acute rehabilitation facility – the only such facility in Westchester with all private rooms.

“Our rehabilitation center has consistently exceeded national and regional averages on key patient care standards in the past year,” said David Gentner, President and CEO of Wartburg. “That’s cause to celebrate, and we wanted to share our accomplishments with the health care and patient communities in Westchester.”

Wartburg, an award-winning senior services provider, is above national and regional averages for the hours of therapy patients receive per day, has a lower length of stay than its peers (21.7 days vs. 27 days regionally), has a greater percentage of patients released to their homes (78 percent vs. 70.8 percent nationally) and has a smaller re-hospitalization percent (14.8 percent vs. 22 percent regionally).*

“Now that we have a new state-of-the-art building we have taken our well-established rehab program to that next level and are achieving outcomes that even surpass our own high expectations,” said Paula Ress, administrator of the new center.

Mae Carpenter, Commissioner of Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services, was the featured speaker at the event and spoke about the county’s TIPS Program (Telehealth Intervention Programs for Seniors), for which Wartburg is a pilot site. TIPS is part of a larger campaign launched this summer by Westchester County called Successful Aging: It’s Everybody’s Business.

“TIPS helps seniors age successfully in their homes and involves families, community groups, and organizations devoted to seniors. Wartburg is a pioneer in integrating its services with TIPS and adopting this new program,” said Commissioner Carpenter, who is also a member of Wartburg’s Board of Directors. “Getting out ahead of illness for seniors is paramount to aging successfully,” she said.

TIPS combines monitoring vital signs such as blood pressure with a complete social check-up, and hands-on support from a network of volunteers including student technicians and nurses from Pace University.

For more information on Wartburg’s Rehabilitation and Adult Day Services Center of Excellence or to tour the new facility, please contact Angela Ciminello, Director of Development, at 914-513-5179 or aciminello@wartburg.org.

Wartburg

Wartburg is an award-winning provider of comprehensive senior services, including independent living, assisted living, Alzheimer’s/dementia care, skilled nursing, rehabilitation, adult day services and hospice care. www.wartburg.org. Its 34-acre campus in Mount Vernon serves seniors and their families in southern Westchester and the northern Bronx, and now the tri-state area. Wartburg’s nursing home has been recognized by “U. S. News & World Report” as among the best nursing homes in New York State for the third straight consecutive year, in 2013. Over the past few years, Wartburg has launched an ambitious building expansion program, including the Friedrichs Residence, providing affordable housing for seniors with 61 independent living apartments, and a rehabilitation and adult day services center of excellence both opened in 2013.

* Sources from CMS Nursing Home Compare, Commonwealth Fund and Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.