It’s a safe bet that being director of facilities for the entire Menorah Park campus requires a whole lot of energy. Russ Martin, director of buildings and grounds, at Menorah Park will need it to execute his ambitious plan to save a lot of energy. Comprising the Jewish Health & Rehabilitation Center, a 132-bed nursing […]
It’s a safe bet that being director of facilities for the entire Menorah Park campus requires a whole lot of energy. Russ Martin, director of buildings and grounds, at Menorah Park will need it to execute his ambitious plan to save a lot of energy.
Comprising the Jewish Health & Rehabilitation Center, a 132-bed nursing home and rehab facility, and The Inn, a supportive-living complex, the main complex of Menorah Park of Central New York keeps growing to fulfill its “continuum of care” mission. The Oaks, an independent senior-living community, is a separate building on the Menorah Park campus.
“Our ambition is to create a completely “green” community at Menorah Park, inside and out,” says Martin, “that includes a space between the facilities where family members can gather but don’t have to go outside the campus to enjoy the outdoors.” That future space will be called The Commons. Martin says that the work he is doing now will not only benefit Menorah Park’s residents and guests but will also help the organization save money and the environment as it grows.
“Recently, we converted our lighting from T12 to T8 and converted all exit signs to LED, which saved us $5,000 a month,” says Martin, “and with the energy savings, it only took seven months to get a payback on our investment.”
As part of Menorah Park’s plan to successfully enter a new era of money-saving technologies, it’s the first nursing-home complex in Central New York to “go green,” and one of the very few businesses in the area to invest in green technologies.
Better boilers
To help save energy as Menorah Park grows, new boilers have been purchased and recently arrived. Expanding its services to provide a better quality of life for its residents and their families will require a lot of money, and, according to Martin, “the time to start saving some is now.”
Martin’s first step is the two new boilers he replaced last year and the two more that just arrived that reclaim energy previously lost up the stack through the condensing factor of the boilers. With an 18 million BTU capacity, the new boilers operate at 95 percent efficiency, saving half of Menorah Park’s fuel cost. So the $20,000 per month it was spending will now be about $10,000, with a seven-year payback on the investment and the added bonus of using cleaner hot-water heating. “The new boilers have also decreased our carbon footprint as they expel less than 10 percent into the atmosphere as opposed to our old units that put out 60 times more.
It’s no longer enough — or prudent — to merely keep pace anymore. “We need to stay ahead of the game,” says Martin. Part of that commitment is putting Menorah Park’s improvements in the hands of local manufacturers and craftsmen. “We’re keeping our business local,” he says. The boilers, for example, are made in nearby Fulton.
And that’s just the beginning of what promises to be some exciting changes at the complex.
Razing the roof(s)
What’s next? Roofs. Menorah Park will replace its roofs with “green” roofs. Part of that technology is capturing rain, allowing the facility to reuse water. In building out The Commons, Menorah Park will create “a nice outdoor area for residents,” says Martin, with a pond, fountains, and a park to stroll around.
Raising the money
In its 100-plus year journey from a 17-room Jewish Home for the Aged into the most comprehensive senior care facility in Central New York, Menorah Park has survived and flourished by its innovation, reputation, and the benevolence of its donors. Menorah Park, through its foundation, hopes to raise money as a way of helping to finance these much-needed and valuable improvements.
The Central New York community, those who used to live here and others who have had family under the care of Menorah Park, have been very generous over the years and we are so deeply appreciative.
All of which means one thing: by investing in its future, Menorah Park of CNY is ensuring it will continue to enhance the lives of those who have contributed so richly to our past.
Victoria Kohl is vice president of The Foundation at Menorah Park. Contact her at vkohl@menorahparkcny.com