By Naeisha Rose
The Highland Care Center, a rehabilitation center in Jamaica, planned a grand reopening this Thursday to showcase its new state-of-the-art rehab gym and renovated facility.
Highland Care Center is located at 91-31 175th St. in Jamaica, and the grand May 10 reopening included a tour of its completely revamped gym and facility. An outdoor party was to be held under a tent on a remodeled patio, according to HCC Administrator Mary Anne Rose.
“Highland Care Center has been around since the 1970s and was built as a traditional nursing home,” said Rose. “Nursing care has transitioned from not only long-term care facilities, but also short-term care facilities, so we had to change our operations.”
The Highland Care Center has 600 to 700 admissions a year and had to enhance its facilities to meet the needs of its patients, the administrator said.
“We rebuilt the entire inside of the facility,” said Rose. “Every bedroom, every hallway, every nurses station…and we rebuilt our gym, we rebuilt our community areas for our residents, our lobby, our offices, and we changed our programs and services to meet the needs of the community.”
The nine-story building is 98,000 square feet, has eight resident units, which have 40 beds each, said Rose.
“Going forward we are hoping to enhance our dementia unit to provide more intense care for those patients,” said Rose. “We are looking to enhance our rehab to do cardiac rehab, we are enhancing our wound care and we are enhancing clinical nursing skills,” said Rose.
There are approximately 30 registered nurses and 45 licensed practical nurses trained to provide extensive wound care, IV-hydration therapy, pulmonary services, IV-antibiotics and more, according to Rose.
“In the new gym you will find a balance machine, which would allow us to test you for your balance so that we know what level of therapy you’ll need,” said Rose. “You’ll find cardiac treadmills, cardiac bikes, a weight machine, and an electronic stimulation machine are just a few of the things we will have.”
At the event spirits and tapas were prepared, along with a playlist that included classical and modern jazz music. Mentalist David Blatt was scheduled to entertain the guests, according to the administrator. A booth was also set up for guests to make their own perfume.
Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose
