Glen Cove Hospital is receiving $2 million in federal funding for its Geriatric Center of Excellence.
The funding for the hospital, part of Northwell Health, was secured by Rep. Tom Suozzi.
The center offers a full continuum of care for older adults, whether they need outpatient primary care, community resources, emergency and inpatient hospital care, specialized hospital programs, at-home services along with long-term skilled care or end-of-life care.
With this funding, the center is building on its existing geriatric care services, including the hospital’s Caregiver Center that opened six months ago.
Kerri Anne Scanlon, the hospital’s executive director, said in a statement that Suozzi had long advocated for the “health and well-being of seniors in our community, and those we provide complex medical care to in the hospital.”
Funding for the geriatric center is critical now, officials said.
“In the last decade alone we’ve seen a 20 percent increase in the number of residents over age 65 in Nassau County,” Scanlon said.
“In addition, nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities represents up 20 percent of all facilities in the county at large,” she added. “This new funding will help us in our mission to provide the most advanced and compassionate care for the growing number of seniors in our community.”
Suozzi said in a statement that the need for funding was obvious.
He said the center would “work with the local community, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and the Glen Cove Senior Center to serve as a model for geriatric care for the region and the nation.”
And he said that the center “is already providing some of the best care for seniors in the region and has helped revitalize the hospital. We have an opportunity not only to develop programs for seniors locally, but the center can serve as a regional and national model for best practices on how to provide seniors and support to our aging population.”
“The aim of the center is to promote longevity improve the quality of care for older individuals and support caregivers and their loved ones facing complex care needs,” Dr. Maria Torroella Carney, chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Northwell Health, said in a statement. “It also is designed to serve as a catalyst for much needed change – both in the scientific and clinical approach to how we deliver multidisciplinary care for older adults and those with serious illness.”
