For three centuries, visitors to New York have been greeted by the famous Emma Lazarus poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, which reads, in part, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses." If a controversial nursing home merger recommendation is implemented in Albany County, that promise will now be delivered with a qualifier: "at least until our beds are full."

The infamous Berger Commission, a Pataki-era relic that has called for the closing or merging of several hospitals, nursing homes and health care facilities, has called for the Albany County Nursing Home and its sister facility, Ann Lee Infirmary, to be merged into a new, smaller facility that could shut out future generations of elderly New Yorkers from nursing home care.

" New York is clearly an aging, more diverse and more disabled population," said Margaret Bradbury, president of the 105-member Albany County Nursing Home Professional Staff Association, which represents workers at both facilities. "There will always be a segment of the population that needs specialized nursing homes."

Albany County and Ann Lee were the only two county nursing homes mentioned in the Berger Commission report, which has essentially been given the weight of law unless legislation is passed to block the implementation of specific measures. In its report, the commission cited aging facilities and low occupancy rates — Ann Lee fills about 91 percent of its 175 beds and Albany County fills about 60 percent of its 420 beds — as primary reasons for merging the two homes into a newly constructed, smaller facility that could eliminate approximately 350 beds.

Syracuse

The fight to maintain adequate public nursing home facilities in Albany County is just one battle in NYSUT's overall struggle against many ill-advised recommendations made by the Berger Commission. The commission has also recommended merging SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse with the private Crouse Hospital. NYSUT's Legislative Department is aggressively lobbying to prevent that action, which could jeopardize critical services in the name of cost savings, such as a highly regarded burn unit, and could impact health care for central New York's indigent population.

Many of the Berger Commission's recommendations could lead to worse health care for New Yorkers in the future. For example, in the case of Albany County and Ann Lee, right-sizing the homes for now will almost certainly wrong-size them for the future, as New York continues to age and retiring baby boomers put new stress on Albany County's elder care facilities. If the merger goes through, union members say, they would at least like to see a facility constructed that can meet anticipated future demand.

Safety net

"We're the safety net," said Bradbury. "We take the Medicaid residents that private nursing homes don't have to take. We take people with chronic illnesses, like multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and AIDS."

In a new, smaller facility that could be filled to capacity, some of the county's poor and disabled residents who need nursing home care could be turned away. The thought is heartbreaking to ACNHPSA members like Ellen Rosano, a social worker who is worried she is seeing the end of an era. Her grandfather became director of Ann Lee in 1939; her father assumed the same role in 1962. In her nearly four decades of social work, most of them at Albany County and Ann Lee, Rosano has taken great pride in knowing that she is helping care for some of the state's neediest patients.

"We need to take care of our old people, and that was my family's charge," she said. "We cared for people who no one else would take."

NYSUT Vice President Kathleen Donahue visited Albany County and Ann Lee in February, meeting with union members and commenting on some of the important services the facilities provide, such as an active social calendar, nutritious food and education programs, including computer training for residents.

"These facilities are important to meeting the obligation we have as New Yorkers to care for our elderly population and our residents with disabilities," Donahue said. "It would be irresponsible to see the state or county move in a direction that would potentially deny care to New Yorkers who need it most."

— Kevin Hart