Guilderland gets new — small — enhanced assisted living facility
The Enterprise — Michael Koff
Open plan: The dining room at the assisted-living facility known as Westhaven, on Gipp Road in Guilderland, opens onto the common area where residents can gather for activites, talk, or watch television. Nurse administrator Mandy Guerrero-Garmley perches on a chair under the flat-screen television.
GUILDERLAND — A newly licensed enhanced assisted-living facility will open at 5 Gipp Rd. on April 17.
Formerly known as the Westmere Home for Adults, Westhaven has just 16 beds and, its owners say, offers a homelike setting.
The new owners, George Scala and Kristen Batchelder, both live locally, Batchelder said. She grew up in Altamont and lives in the village now, while Scala lives in East Greenbush.
Batchelder and Scala also own two other facilities, in Cambridge, New York: The Cambridge, a private-paid residence; and The Mansion at South Union, a Medicaid-funded assisted-living program.
The purchase of the Westmere facility did not require an elaborate application process with the town, but was treated simply as a sale from one owner to another, said Jacqueline Coons, the town’s acting chief building and zoning inspector.
It took a year to get fully licensed, said Mandy Guerrero-Garmley, a registered nurse, nurse administrator, and case manager who will run the facility.
“The enhanced licensure is hard to get in New York State,” Guerrero-Garmley said.
Westhaven will offer both private and semiprivate rooms, as well as several rooms upstairs — accessible only by stairs — for those on a Supplemental Security Income.
Westhaven is also licensed as an assisted living facility and will be able to accept people who need only a minimum of help, such as reminders to take medications, as well as those who require enhanced assisted living.
Guerrero-Garmley said that those enhanced services include skilled nursing care; hands-on assistance with activities of daily living; and assistance with transfers, between wheelchairs and beds, for example.
Included in the monthly fees are nursing care, case management, occupational therapy and physical therapy, and off-site and on-site activities, Guerrero-Garmley said that Westhaven does not charge more as residents’ needs increase.
Staff will include licensed practical nurses, home health aids, a registered dietician, an activities coordinator, cooks, a maintenance person, and a housekeeper, said Guerrero-Garmley.