Wed, May 29th 2024 at 6:48 PMRochester, N.Y. — Two local health care organizations are teaming up to tackle a critical shortage of space in hospitals and nursing homes.Moving a loved one into a nursing home is a difficult decision on its own — only made more complicated by a long wait for an available nursing home bed.
Runyon hopes St. John's new agreement with the University of Rochester Medical Center, which was announced Wednesday, will address overcapacity rates in both Highland and Strong Memorial Hospitals."It was pretty apparent that they had a real need for nursing home placement," said Runyon. "We had the opportunity, because we had vacant floors and empty rooms."
"Many patients who have experienced care in our emergency department, they know that they often wait in hallways or in special areas that are somewhat crowded," said Parrinello. "At Strong and Highland alone, we have anywhere from 100 to 110 patients between the two hospitals. Generally 80 at Strong and 20-30 at Highland waiting for nursing home placements."