HEALEY CENTER CELEBRATES FIRST YEAR OF PROVIDING QUALITY
SKILLED NURSING CARE IN NEW FACILITY
Riviera Beach, FL – Residents and staff at the Edward J. Healey Rehabilitation and Nursing Center had cause for celebration on Thursday as they marked the one-year anniversary of the move to their new home in Riviera Beach. Residents enjoyed a barbeque lunch along with family and friends who were invited to share in the milestone. When it opened April 3rd, 2013, the new 120-bed facility replaced the former facility in West Palm Beach, which had served the needs of the community since 1917.
“For many years, the HealeyCenter has been an important part of the health care safety net in Palm BeachCounty,” said Ronald J. Wiewora, MD, MPH, the Health Care District of Palm Beach County’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer. “We are proud that this new, modern facility has allowed our staff to continue to provide high-quality, skilled nursing care to our community’s most vulnerable and needy residents.”
The Health Care District began operating the HealeyCenter in 1995. The HealeyCenter serves eligible Palm BeachCounty residents with traumatic injuries or debilitating illnesses, and also cares for residents with dementia and complex medical issues. While the nearly 100 residents range in age from 22 to 85, the majority are under 64 years old.
“For many of our residents, the HealeyCenter is not just a facility where they receive care, it is their home,” said Peggy Mallon, MBA, NHA, RD, Administrator. “Our new Center allows the residents to have some of the conveniences of home, such as more privacy inside their rooms, as well as more personal dining spaces. Over the past year, residents have enjoyed these enhancements the most.”
The new building’s modern and spacious design gives residents more privacy, brings common areas like dining and day rooms close to the residents’ rooms and enables staff to provide more care inside the rooms. Residents now enjoy semi-private rooms with space to store their wheelchairs, and specialized room lighting allows residents to control various settings, which is important to residents with head injuries who need softer lighting.
“It’s awesome,” said David Terry, a 16-year HealeyCenter resident. “I love the view from my room and the privacy.”
The HealeyCenter’s professional staff delivers more than 6,000 hours of occupational, physical and speech therapy services each year, giving long-term patients a second chance at quality of life. Staff members are proud of their success in returning residents—many who arrive without the ability to walk or to speak—to their highest optimal capabilities and they refer to residents who have moved out and on with their lives as “walking miracles.”
“They really do a fantastic job,” said Eugene Williams, a HealeyCenter resident. “I’ve witnessed two or three people who came in in wheelchairs, and now they’re walking.”
“We get to really impact someone so that they don’t just have a lifelong illness that puts them in a facility forever or a devastating accident and injury where they’re separated from their families,” said Dotty Olsen-DeHon, the HealeyCenter’s Director of Rehabilitation. “Now that’s the best part, when the families get to reunite, they get to go back into the community, be with them.”
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About the Health Care District:
The Health Care District of Palm Beach County, which is marking its 25th anniversary, provides adult and pediatric care at the four C. L. Brumback Primary Care Clinics, health coverage programs for eligible uninsured residents, a pharmacy operation, a nationally-recognized Trauma System, registered nurses in nearly 170 public schools, short and long-term skilled nursing at the Edward J. Healey Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Riviera Beach, and acute care at Lakeside Medical Center, the county’s only public hospital, serving the rural Glades’ communities.