"Topping Off" Ceremony Held for New Long Term Care Facility

One of the newest additions to the medical campus, Kaleida Health's $64 million long term care facility, held its "topping off" ceremony Tuesday afternoon. The new 300-bed nursing home facility will replace two smaller, outdated facilities, the 242-bed Deaconess Center on Humboldt Parkway and the 75-bed skilled-nursing unit in Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital, which are both slated to close within the next two years.  

In October it was announced that the facility would receive major financial backing in the form of a $51.9 million FHA loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  This financing will save the project an estimated $22.1 million in interest expense over the life of the loan.  HUD estimates that this new consolidated facility will support 755 full-time jobs and stimulate the local economy to the tune of $140 million.

The $64 million project, which broke ground in August, is slated for completion in 2012 and will be the first nursing care facility built in Buffalo in decades.  The 200,000 square foot, 4-story facility will also offer healthcare services to an area deemed "medically underserved" by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  It is being built on the block bounded by Michigan Avenue and Maple, East North and High streets.

"This project, just blocks from the new heart and vascular institute already under construction, is another example of Kaleida Health's commitment to delivering quality, compassionate care to all Western New Yorkers," said James R. Kaskie, president and CEO of Kaleida Health (pictured above).  "Our physicians, nurses and other healthcare processionals are focused on advancing people's health in the communities we serve." 

 

"As our nation's population ages, there will be greater demand for healthcare services such as those that will be provided in these new facilities," Kaskie added.  "Despite the prolonged recession, large numbers of uninsured and underinsured patients and dramatic changes affecting the entire healthcare industry, Kaleida Health is working to ensure that Western New Yorkers have access to the healthcare services - and employment opportunities - they require now and in the future."