by Alex Brooks
The Center For Nursing And Rehabilitation (formerly The Hoosick Falls Health Center) has been awarded a $2.9 million grant for improvements to its building under the Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program, which was enacted as part of the State FY 2017 budget, and supplemented in the recently enacted FY 2018 budget.
The programs’s goals are reducing avoidable hospital visits, ensuring the financial sustainability of safety net healthcare providers, and preserving essential health care services. The program is administered by the NYS Department of Health and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York.
Governor Cuomo remarked, “Now, more than ever, we need to protect health care in New York and ensure the system in place is meeting the needs of current and future generations of New Yorkers. While others seek to decimate our hospitals and reduce access to quality healthcare, we are investing to help ensure a stronger, healthier New York for all.”
The program awarded $491 million statewide. It made five awards in the Capital District totaling $28.7 million. The largest of these was a grant of 19,959,105 to the Glens Falls Hospital to construct a “Medical Village” to provide comprehensive ambulatory and telemedicine services. The other three were 1.65 million to Baptist Health Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, $2.08 million to Equinox, Inc., and $2.2 million to Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood.
The grant to The Center is for implementing the recommendations of an energy audit done about a year and a half ago by Siemens Industry, Inc, Building Technologies Division. It recommended replacement of just about all of the mechanical systems in the building as well as roof replacement in order to upgrade the insulation in the roof, and other improvements to the building envelope to improve its insulating value.
The CNR building was originally constructed in 1954, and was enlarged with an addition built in 1994. It has about 50,000 square feet and the Facility can hold a maximum of 82 patients. Most of the mechanical systems date from the 1990s.
The project will include replacing the existing rooftop air handling units (which have exceeded their projected life expectancy) with six high-efficiency units using a centralized chiller, and replacing ductless split systems with fan coil units; replacing boilers and replacing hot water heaters with new ones running off the new boilers; making improvements to the heating and cooling control systems; changing over lighting to an LED system; installing energy recovery units where building air is being exhausted to the outside; replacing the roof and upgrading the roof insulation; and replacing 57 toilets, 75 sink faucets, and 20 shower heads with water-saving designs.
The net result will be significant energy savings for the building, and a more comfortable indoor environment. The Siemens report projects an annual cost savings of $52,508, which is more than a third of the current energy cost.
The grant application was written by Joyce Davis, with assistance from The Center’s Administrator Laura Reynolds, and a grant writer from the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.
Greg Laurin, President of the Center for Nursing And Rehabilitation Board of Directors, said this grant is a huge win for the whole Hoosick Falls community. He said the planned takeover of the Center’s management by the Southwestern Vermont Medical is not complete yet, but is on track to be approved. He feels that when that process and the renovations planned under this grant are both completed, the Center and the 114 full-time equivalent jobs that it provides should be secure for the foreseeable future. The work planned under this grant will make the Center more attractive to potential residents and also lower operating costs.
Laurin said only 4% of the grants made under this program were given to nursing homes, and he feels fortunate that the Center was included in this funding round. He credits State Senator Kathy Marchione with a strong effort to secure this funding for the Center, and he thanked her for her efforts.