Catholic Health of Buffalo opens new care facility for COVID-19 patients
Nursing homes and acute-care facilities have been especially hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis has prompted these providers to carefully and creatively consider innovative techniques for providing patient care to those rehabilitating from COVID-19 while keeping their COVID-19-negative residents safe from infection. One such response was initiated by Catholic Health of Buffalo.
The initial step was taken by Joyce Markiewicz, executive vice president, chief business development officer, Catholic Health of Buffalo, who contacted The McGuire Group, a Buffalo-based multi-facility healthcare provider in Western New York, asking if they would be willing to collaborate on opening a location for COVID-19-positive sub-acute patients. That same day, Catholic Health and The McGuire Group looked at the location of a former nursing facility they could use for this new venture. On March 27, the organizations divided up the work and reached out to the landlord of the building. Catholic Health’s legal department requested a waiver with the state on March 31 and was able to have a call with the state just a few days later. They summarized their intentions in the form of a letter and received approval 48 hours later to create the St. Joseph Post-Acute Center located in Orchard Park, New York. The new location opened on April 14 as a post-acute care center dedicated to meeting the needs of patients recovering from the Coronavirus. There are currently 65 patients in the building, all recovering from COVID-19 in a safe, secure location.
For more information, contact Joann Cavanaugh, director, public relations, at (716) 706-2061 or jcav@chsbuffalo.org.
