Conesus, Shore Winds facilities to provide up to 100 beds for patients ready for discharge,
expanding hospitals’ capacity for critically ill patients
January 4, 2021, Rochester, N.Y. — Hurlbut Care Communities will provide temporary care for COVID-positive nursing home and assisted living residents who are ready for discharge from UR Medicine hospitals, but need a negative test result before returning to their home facility.
Conesus Lake Nursing Home in Livonia has received New York State Department of Health approval to serve as a step-down facility for COVID-positive patients from UR Medicine hospitals, and The Shore Winds in Rochester has received DOH approval pending a facility modification that will be completed this week. The two sites join Rochester Regional Health’s Hill Haven as facilities approved by the state to offer post-hospital, transitional nursing home care to COVID-positive patients.
Hurlbut Care Communities will provide up to 100 beds at its two facilities to care for nursing home and assisted living patients who test COVID-positive and are unable return to their home facility under New York State guidelines, but who no longer need inpatient care at a UR Medicine hospital. As of this morning, the six UR Medicine hospitals were caring for 105 patients in this category, including 46 at Strong Memorial and 40 at Highland Hospital in Rochester.
“COVID-19 has placed unprecedented demands on our community’s health care infrastructure, particularly hospitals and nursing homes,” said Steven I. Goldstein, president and CEO of Strong Memorial and Highland hospitals. “Temporary nursing home care for COVID-positive patients helps hospitals accommodate rising numbers of critically ill patients, while ensuring that COVID-positive nursing home and assisted living residents receive the care they need to recover and return home safely. We thank Robert W. Hurlbut and Hurlbut Care Communities for offering this assistance to our community’s hospitals, and Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York State Department of Health Commissioner Howard A. Zucker, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello, and Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Robert Duffy for their help in bringing these resources to our community. ”
“We are grateful to all our community’s skilled nursing facilities, who partner with us every day to support the safe transfer of patients from hospital to nursing home,” said Kelly Luther, Director of Social Work and Patient & Family Services for URMC. “We continue to rely on their help to accept patients discharged from our hospitals; and now, with the addition of designated COVID-positive nursing home facilities, it is especially helpful to have this option for patients who need temporary care until they can fully recover and return to their own facility.”
Those transferred to Hurlbut Care Communities are considered medically stable but may require recovery services such as oxygen, medication management, hydration, therapies and nutritional supports to regain strength.
Hurlbut Care Communities has worked closely with NYSDOH to develop plans and prepare infrastructure at The Shore Winds and Conesus Lake Nursing Home to accommodate UR Medicine patients’ needs. Conesus Lake Nursing Home, which has a total capacity of 40 beds, is in the process of transitioning fully to a COVID-19 facility. All Conesus Lake Nursing Home COVID-negative residents are temporarily being cared for at sister facilities. Each Conesus Lake Nursing Home resident’s primary contact was personally notified of the temporary placement by the facility social worker. The Shore Winds, which has a total capacity of 220 beds, has created specialized, separate COVID-19 facilities that can accommodate up to 60 COVID-positive patients. No Shore Winds residents were transferred as part of this change.
New York state guidance requires COVID-positive facilities to be isolated from non-COVID-positive facilities, and to have separate staff. The majority of residents identified for transfer to these facilities are “persistently positive” -- the length of time required to “shed” the virus varies in different individuals. Many “persistently positive” individuals are believed to be no longer clinically infectious.
“We are proud to step up and answer the call when our community is most in need and open our doors to some of our area’s most vulnerable members,” said Robert W. Hurlbut, Hurlbut Care Communities president and CEO. “URMC is one of the nation’s most respected health care institutions, and we are pleased to be able to expand on our already successful relationship.”
“Based on nearly a year of some of the most challenging times in our modern history, Hurlbut Care Communities staff have worked diligently to develop improved processes and protocols to continue ensuring the health and well-being of residents and staff,” Hurlbut added. Hurlbut Care Communities has coordinated staffing to ensure no exposure between units at The Shore Winds, require staff to continue using personal protective equipment (PPE) in accordance with NYSDOH and CDC requirements, and are maintaining strict and thorough sanitation practices including the use of Clorox 360 machines at all facilities.
This collaboration between Hurlbut Care Communities and the University of Rochester Medical Center will begin immediately, with some patients being transferred to Conesus Lake as soon as today.
