Swampscott assisted living center shifting operation to Peabody

SWAMPSCOTT – Aviv Centers for Living said that closing its Swampscott facility to consolidate operations at a new $35 million development in Peabody will offer improved care for North Shore residents.”Based on every need identified in the studies that were done, the single campus would best serve the community,” said Aviv Centers for Living President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen H. Neff.He stressed that the North Shore experienced the largest growth within a 5-mile radius of their planned Peabody development, according to the new census. “After six years of market studies, family interviews and evaluations of people in care, very clearly what the community needs is a state-of-the-art health-care facility.”Aviv Centers for Living currently offers 130 units of assisted living at the Woodbridge Assisted Living and The Legacy at Woodbridge in Peabody and 176 skilled nursing beds at the Jewish Rehabilitation Center on Paradise Road in Swampscott, according to Neff. The Swampscott facility also includes an adult day center.The company announced April 29 that it had received $50 million in tax-exempt financing to fund a new 144-bed replacement, 120,000-square-foot skilled nursing facility, to be named the Waldfogel Health Center, on the Peabody campus. A company spokesperson said that the Swampscott facility would be closed, but the company had not yet determined whether the closure would occur immediately when the health center is scheduled to open in August 2012.David Pliner, the former chairman of the board at Aviv, said that the company purchased their 20-acre property in Peabody with the foresight that the company might consolidate operations, but discussions about creating that single “campus” began about five years ago. (Neff said the property was purchased in the early 1990s).”The most efficient model and best to continue to provide outstanding care is one campus model,” explained Pliner. “The facility in Swampscott is 40 years old and the world of healthcare has changed significantly, and the way we provide care has changed dramatically.”Neff described some of these changes in discussing the architecture plans for the new health center.The current Swampscott facility offers 176 beds, of which only eight are in private rooms, divided among four units.But private rooms are now more desirable, especially for those who need more intensive care, Neff said, attributing improvements in hospice care and geriatric services to increasing numbers of patients who live longer independently and/or in their own homes.The new building will consist of nine “households” with living, dining and parlor facilities shared by 12 private rooms and two semi-private rooms. This allows the facility more flexibility in providing care, Neff explained, because each household can be dedicated to taking care of patients with specific needs – for instance, short-term rehabilitation from surgery, Alzheimer’s care or long-term assisted living.”As care needs change and people come to us more frail, we will be able to design units according to needs,” Neff explained.The health-care center will also include more amenities for residents. There will be an adult day center to provide daytime care for area seniors, as well as a kosher bistro at the center. The Jewish Historical Society will use the center as exhibit space for their displays of North Shore Jewish historical resources. In addition, the new building will include a child-care center, which will expand Aviv’s clientele, Neff said, as well as provide interaction opportunities between the most disparate age groups in the community.Neff said that all of these amenities were requested by residents and their families as part of the planning process.He said that “very few current residents will actually be impacted” by the move, as patients in long-term care stay, on average, one year, while those seeking short-term rehabilitation have an average visit of 21 days. Nevertheless, he said that social work