NY county executive wants to close county's nursing home

From FOX 23 News in Albany, N.Y.:

Albany County Executive Mike Breslin (pictured) says he's prepared to close the county's nursing home, but some of his colleagues say they'll fight to stop it.

The nursing home closure is one part of Breslin's proposed long term plan unveiled Sept. 10 in Watervliet.

Breslin says it is a decision with financial and personal implications, aimed at allowing people stay at home longer, but opponents say it puts those most in need more at risk.

One of the keys to this plan is a change in traditional thinking from institutional-based care to more of a home-based option.

Mike Breslin/D-Albany County Executive: “It would allow us to do all of these other things that we need to do to meet the demands of people who really want to be in their homes and to be in places other than a nursing home.”

Albany County Executive Mike Breslin's plan calls for instituting programs to allow seniors and the disabled to stay in their own homes longer, closing the 250-bed Albany County Nursing Home in the next two years, and working with private nursing homes to find spots for people who need that option.

Mike Breslin: “It costs the county taxpayers some $18 million a year, $80,000 a person right now, and if that $80,000 was taken back and put into these other services, it would go dramatically further to reach so many more people.”

Albany County Legislature Majority Leader Frank Commisso says it would appear that the county executive and the legislature are headed down two very different paths on this issue.

Frank Commisso/D-Albany County Legislature Majority Leader: “I think there's some elements in his plan that work very well and are needed for the future but there's also that element of people who might be hospitalized right as we speak here who tomorrow need a nursing home bed and it's not going to be available in Albany County.”

Seniors and the disabled say it's about quality of life.

Wayne Hughes/Watervliet: “When they're in their own environment, they seem more happy and they're more alert. When they get in a nursing home, they just fade down. You're taking their pride away from them."

Constance Laymon/Consumer Directed Choices: “This isn't about the legislature vs. the county executive. It's about constituencies. It's about real people receiving real services.”

Frank Commisso says he will be discussing the plan with his caucus perhaps as soon as this evening.

The plan will go before the legislature’s nursing home committee on September 22.