GUILDERLAND CENTER — Guilderland Center Rehabilitation and Extended Care Facility, a 127-bed nursing facility that provides rehabilitation and nursing services to patients who require either short- or long-term nursing care following hospitalization, will soon have a new name and brand.

The Grand Healthcare System, based in Queens, is renaming the facility The Grand at Guilderland; the first part of the name matches five other facilities across the state — located in Chittenango, Pawling, Queens, River Valley, and Rome — affiliated with The Grand Healthcare System.

The Grand Healthcare system took over management of the facility in 2014 and invested over $1 million in upgrades. (See story online at AltamontEnterprise.com.)

Within the same week in November, said Bruce Gendron, regional administrator for The Grand Healthcare, the organization closed on its purchase of the facility and also received word from the state’s Department of Health that the nursing facility was “graduating” from the special focus list. The list is for nursing homes that have had a “history of serious quality issues” and are included in “a special program to stimulate improvements in their quality of care,” according to the health department.

The special focus list has not yet been updated online, Gendron said, but he showed The Enterprise a Nov. 10 letter from the Department of Health saying that the facility had “achieved and sustained progress,” that the department had recommended the facility be taken off the list, and that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had approved its graduation effective Nov. 8.

Gendron said he was “delighted” to see the results of the organization’s intensive investment in improving Guilderland’s staffing, training, policies, procedures, and facilities.

The rebranding of The Grand at Guilderland will begin with new interior and exterior signs and new uniforms for staff. Guests will also have access to hospitality features offered at other Grand-affiliated properties such as a personalized menu, concierge service, courtesy shuttle service, and iPad program to communicate with family and friends any time of day or night.

— Elizabeth Floyd Mair