Cayuga Nursing & Rehab Center, Cayuga Health open COVID-19 patient facility in Ithaca

ITHACA, N.Y. — Cayuga Health (CH) and Cayuga Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (CNRC), both of Ithaca, on Wednesday announced they’re offering a 37-bed facility dedicated to COVID-19 patient care.

The move is in response to an “increase in demand for acute-bed care capacity in the Southern Tier and across the region,” Cayuga Health said in a news release.

The COVID-19 facility is located in a separate, unoccupied building on the Cayuga Nursing & Rehabilitation Center campus and is staffed by a dedicated team. The facility specifically targets “stabilized, non-infectious” COVID-19 patents who are still testing positive, to “provide continued care and the required quarantine.”

“Under an executive order, nursing home patients are not permitted to be discharged [from a hospital] without a COVID-19 negative test,” Shully Braunstein, owner of Cayuga Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, said. “After I received the call from Dr. Martin Stallone and Dr. David Evelyn asking if we are still able to help, we acted quickly to get a memorandum of understanding (MOU) from the [New York State] Department of Health (DOH). Our separate 37-bed facility will enable patients to finish their quarantine while getting access to our highly skilled nursing and rehabilitation team. We are working closely with [DOH] to ensure that all necessary guidelines are being followed to safely operate the COVID-19 positive facility.”

This facility will be operated “separate and apart” from the nursing home and its residents and faculty. All patients of the COVID-19 patient facility will be admitted through a separate entrance where multiple barriers have been set up to prevent access from CNRC to the facility.

All direct-care staff will be dedicated to the COVID patient facility and will not be floated at any time to work in any of the CNRC units on campus, per the release.

“Last spring, in preparation for the various stages of the pandemic within our community, we reached out to Mr. Braunstein to discuss a potential partnership, and he willingly offered to help,” Dr. Martin Stallone, president & CEO of Cayuga Health, said. “This partnership benefits all of our regional hospitals as the demand for acute care related to COVID-19 complications increases. We are thankful to Mr. Braunstein and his team for being a true community partner and acting quickly to open this facility.”

Cayuga Nursing & Rehabilitation Center is a 144-bed skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation Center located on the west bank of Cayuga Lake in Ithaca. It offers care that ranges from short-term rehabilitation to long-term skilled nursing; Alzheimer’s/dementia care on a secure unit to temporary respite stays; along with specialty programs and services.