Menorah Park secures $170,000 in grant funding for electronic medical-records project

DeWITT, N.Y. — Menorah Park, a senior-living community at 4101 East Genesee St. in DeWitt, has secured $170,000 in grants from five foundations to help pay for a project to install electronic medical records (EMRs).

The grants include $70,000 from the Arlene L. and Jerome R. Gerber Family Foundation and $25,000 each from the Central New York Community Foundation Inc., the Green Family Foundation, the Leonard and Irwin Kamp Foundation, and the J.M. McDonald Foundation, the organization said in a news release issued Monday.

Of the awarding organizations, the J.M. McDonald Foundation is the only one based outside of Syracuse in Evergreen, Colorado, according to its website. Despite the Colorado contact address, the nonprofit considers its grant awards “primarily in upstate New York” because it’s where the foundation “started and operated for over 48 years,” according to the site.

Besides meeting state standards, the Menorah Park project will improve the “current high quality” of resident care and “increase” residents’ and health partners’ “satisfaction” through the “secure digital connections,” Mary Ellen Bloodgood, CEO of Menorah Park, contended in the release. “EMR[s] will allow our medical partners to communicate with our nursing and admissions staff using secure electronic connections.”

Plans for the project, which Menorah Park is calling the “health-connection project,” also include “enhanced” wireless capabilities for staff, residents, and their families.

“We cannot be more grateful for the support of these five foundations in helping Menorah Park adapt to ever-changing technology. These grants directly help our residents’ quality of life,” said Bloodgood.

Established in 1912 as the Jewish Home for Aged, the Menorah Park campus includes the Jewish Health and Rehabilitation Center; the Oaks at Menorah Park for independent senior living; the Inn at Menorah Park, which offers assisted living for seniors; Rothschild adult day services; the Beit Tikvah Group Residence; Syracuse Jewish Family Service; Menorah Park Home Health Care; and the Fink Institute for Applied Research on Aging, according to the release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com