When Michael Fassler reflects on his work as CEO of Beth Abraham Family of Health Services, he not only considers the progress the organization has made over the years, but also focuses on how he can continue serving the Beth Abraham community in the future.
In his role at the non-profit, Fassler works daily with staff members who run the home care, managed care and inpatient services to see what visions they have for the future and what changes can be made to improve the quality of patient care, something that Beth Abraham constantly strives for.
“I feel very fortunate that every day I can work towards making life better for the patients and the staff working here,” he says.
Beth Abraham is a source of both long-term residential and community-based health care, with an emphasis on helping patients to stay in their homes and communities whenever possible, according to Fassler. Beth Abraham has grown to become one of the largest long-term healthcare providers in New York State. “The fact that we serve all of New York City and we’ve grown into the surrounding areas, including Westchester and Suffolk counties, speaks volumes,” he says.
Fassler explains that Beth Abraham’s growth over the past several years can be measured in the progress it has made in the area of community-based care. When Beth Abraham was first founded in the 1920’s, Fassler says, it operated strictly as a nursing home for chronically ill patients nearing the end of their life span.
Beth Abraham has since diversified to serve about 6,000 patients daily, not only through nursing homes, but also through home care, day care, home-based managed care, senior housing and short and long term rehab programs.
“If patients need nursing home care, we’re there, but really for many people home care programs are ideal,” Fassler says. In fact, according to Fassler, the majority of today’s Beth Abraham patients are living in their own communities.
Fassler says that Beth Abraham specializes in serving ethnic groups, including large Chinese, Russian and Latino populations. In addition, Beth Abraham is making an effort to reach out to the Orthodox Jewish and Asian communities in Queens in particular. Fassler and his staff aim to hire nurses, aids and social workers who speak the languages and know the culture of each community. “We hire people who are connected to the communities we are serving,” he explains.
For patients that do require nursing home care, Fassler notes that Beth Abraham is making many improvements to help make residents more comfortable. Among such improvements is the renovation of the Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Jamaica, where the facility is being fixed up and modernized, and the d/cor made to look and feel more contemporary and home like.
According to Fassler, the food service in Beth Abraham’s long-term care facilities has also changed to accommodate residents’ tastes and provide them with an enhanced social dining experience.
For further information on the Beth Abraham Family of Health Services, call 1-888-BETH-ABE, or you can visit www.bethabe.org, or send an email to info@bethabe.org.
