is that it's really a mission-driven organization."" title=""The thing I love most about my job...is that it's really a mission-driven organization.""/>is that it's really a mission-driven organization."
Name: Steven J. Horowitz
Age: 48
Position: President and CEO of the Saint Elizabeth Community, homes
for the elderly.
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Background: Prior to joining the Saint Elizabeth Community as an administrator
in 1985, he was the assistant director of the Jewish Home for the Aged of Rhode
Island. He assumed his present role in 1998 after being promoted from executive
director.
Education: Economics degree from the State University of New York in
Stony Brook; Master’s degree in business administration from Long Island University
(with a concentration in health-care administration)
Residence: Warwick
The Saint Elizabeth Community is undergoing a number of changes to its facilities. In 2001 Saint Elizabeth Nursing Homes moved from its historic location on Melrose Street in Providence, in the Elmwood Historic District, to a new $14 million facility in East Greenwich. The Melrose Street facility is undergoing a $10 million renovation and will be converted to affordable assisted living units for 68 residents. It will be renamed Saint Elizabeth Court and is scheduled to open this coming summer. On April 1Metacom Manor Health Center in Bristol will be renamed St. Elizabeth Manor, East Bay; and Westminster Place in Providence will be renamed St. Elizabeth Place.
PBN: How did the move from Providence to East Greenwich change the
way you provide care for your residents? Was it a difficult transition for your
staff and residents?
HOROWITZ: Initially they were apprehensive about coming. We did things;
we had focus groups, we had employee-assistance programs, talked to staff about
how we could make this move easier for them. We were talking to residents a
year in advance. Surprisingly three residents decided they would stay in facilities
in Providence. Families were very supportive of the move because I guess the
nicest way we can say it is in terms of Providence itself, that building lived
its usefulness. It was built in 1916 and was built to handle the nursing home
resident of 1916, who was a lot different from the nursing home resident of
today. We couldn’t do this skilled care in terms of the different machinery
because we just didn’t have the electrical power to run some of these things.
The bathrooms became an issue to us. Before it wasn’t such a big deal if residents
used the dormitory-style bathrooms, but at this point in time it was more of
a marketing thing, that no one was going to look to share a bathroom. We’re
at 100 percent occupancy and we’ve been fortunate; we always have been, but
it’s not as much of an effort now to be at that mark.
How will the newly renovated and restored Saint Elizabeth Court in Providence fit in with the other facilities?
It’s the first program of its kind between Rhode Island Housing, (historic) tax credits and working with the state subsidized labor units, so 48 of those (68) units will be for the low-income elderly and these elderly would never have had a place for assisted living. They would have either been in an apartment, at risk, waiting to go to a nursing home but they’re not quite eligible for one yet. Now they’ll have this setting to go to and what that gives us is that whole continuum. We have Westminster Place that is independent living, then if that person needs the next step, they can go to Saint Elizabeth Court. Then after that if they need a nursing home they can either go to Metacom Manor or Saint Elizabeth Home.
The Providence project will use Medicare funds to pay for support services, a waiver of the federal policy that limits Medicare use to nursing homes. How will that work?
There are 200 units now available in Rhode Island for waivers, for low-income assisted living. And as part of that, we’re going to be eligible for 48 of those waiver beds. So we can take people with income levels below $13,000-$14,000 a year who would come in with their Social Security supplemental check, plus the state will give us $900 a month to take care of those residents which is approximately $2,100 a month that we’d get to take care of those residents in assisted living. But there’s only 200 of those active and right now there are another 175 that have been approved but not funded. It’s as simple as looking at something like that, that people would be in nursing homes at a cost of $150 a day versus the state paying $30 to keep somebody in a protective environment.
Given the aging population and increasing demand for beds, how do you determine which people to admit? Is there a screening process?
The thing I love most about my job and about this place, being that it’s a
non-profit, is that it’s really a mission-driven organization. Ultimately the
number one priority is we take care of people, regardless of ability to pay.
Like anyone else, we have budget constraints, and in order to take care of people
you can’t afford you have to take care of people you can afford. If there’s
somebody at risk in the community and they need a bed, and we can take care
of them and we have the ability to take care of them, they always get a priority
over someone who might be in another facility who’s being taken care of. And
the decision for us is getting harder and harder, because honestly, a lot of
people have applied to our facilities. The proudest part for me is that we made
the decision to do the assisted affordable living. People who can afford to
and people who can pay, for the most part, will find a place. It’s people who
can’t that we feel obligated to serve and over the years that’s why people have
given to us. We have a very active development fund-raising effort here for
our organization and we’re in the midst of a capital campaign, whose goal is
$3 million. We’re at a little over $2.4 million right now.
