Baptist Health plans $50M upgrade to Scotia campus

SCOTIA — The Baptist Health and Rehabilitation Center will launch a $50 million project next year on its Scotia campus to upgrade rooms and expand services for the elderly.

The nondenominational, 262-bed center will use a $3.5 million grant it received last week from the state toward the project and will pay for the rest through fundraising and other efforts.

“We are expanding our services to continue the continuum of care we provide,” said Ruth Tietz, director of public relations, marketing and development for the nonprofit organization.

The project is one of several in Schenectady County aimed at enhancing and expanding long-term care and assisted living facilities and projected at more than $150 million over the next few years. The state is awarding millions to facilities as part of a plan to restructure long-term care in New York.

The Baptist Center will create an assisted living facility, a new service, at a cost of $14 million, said Antonio Alotta, associate administrator.

“We have identified a need in the community through a market study,” Alotta said.

Baptist will construct the assisted living center with 50 beds inside a portion of its current facility on Route 50.

The assisted living center will have its own entrance and parking lot and will be independent of the skilled nursing facility, Tietz said.

It will contain one- and two-bedroom apartments complete with kitchens and living rooms, plus a variety of health-related features such as doors wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and call buttons and handrails throughout.

“It would be like living in an apartment,” Tietz said.

state sees need

The state Department of Health, which gave Baptist the $3.5 million grant, is seeking to expand the number of assisted living beds in the state. Assisted living facilities are a middle range of services between independent living and nursing homes.

They are for people who require assistance with daily living tasks but do not require constant care. They are also less expensive than skilled nursing beds.

Baptist also plans to spend $36 million to upgrade 180 existing skilled-nursing beds to better suit the needs of the aging population, Tietz said.

“We will modernize the rooms, add more conveniences like Wi-Fi, put in bigger beds and more,” she said.

The project will be done in two phases. The first, scheduled to begin early next year, is to upgrade the space for 180 beds. The second phase is to construct the assisted living facility.

In June, state Health Commissioner Dr. Richard F. Daines approved 1,584 new assisted living beds in the state, a nearly 40 percent increase and the largest expansion of the program in more than a decade.

In addition to Baptist, the state this year gave permission for Scotia Mansion to add 25 assisted living beds.

The state in March awarded a $1.9 million grant to Capital Living and Rehabilitation Centres, for-profit owner of The Avenue on Altamont Avenue and Dutch Manor on Hamburg Street, toward its plan to build a $50 million, 240-bed skilled nursing facility near the two facilities.

Capital Living will also build a 50-bed assisted-living facility and create 25 adult day care openings.

In addition, Schenectady County is proposing to spend $51 million to build a 200-bed nursing home by Dec. 31, 2010. It would replace the aging Glendale Home.

The Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century — commonly known as the Berger Commission — recommended the county downsize the 360-bed Glendale skilled nursing facility to 168 beds.

The commission findings became law in January 2007, also mandating consolidation of the services of Ellis Hospital with those of Bellevue Woman’s Hospital and St. Clare’s Hospital. Those changes are under way.