Memphis Jewish Home and Rehab expanding
Nurses wheeled patients to their therapy sessions smiling, cracking jokes, one woman even bragging to a nurse about her weekend. They were headed to their small rehab areas, but they will walk into a new space soon.
Memphis Jewish Home and Rehab is in the midst of a $7.5 million renovation at their facility near Walnut Grove and Forest Hill-Irene in Cordova. A capital campaign has raised about $3.5 million for the work.
Construction of the 24,000-square-foot expansion — which began in February — is the first expansion since the facility moved to Cordova from Midtown in 1992. The addition should open in April 2019 and will allow the center to further care for their 160 patients.
“Our average stay for our long-term residents is seven years,” Joel Ashner, director of philanthropy and community engagement, said, adding the state average is three. “That goes to show we provide really good care … Our environment is home-like.”
Ashner said they have 50 to 70 patients for short-term rehab. The new facility will allow them to put long-term patients on the top floor and rehab patients on the first floor.
The new addition will provide larger space for rehabilitation. Currently, physical, occupational and speech thera-
py take place in different parts of the building. In the new facility they will all happen in the same area.
“To stay competitive in this market, we needed to improve,” Ashner said. “The space where we are doing rehab is too crowded, so this will help us.”
Physical therapy is adding a pool with a treadmill, underwater cameras and other features to accommodate each patient’s needs. The pool can fit two patients and therapists at a time. Ashner said this is only the second pool of its kind in the area, and the first at a rehab facility. The therapy center will also have a walking track, making it easier for nurses to measure how far their patients are walking.
The new rehabilitation space will feature a car so occupational therapists can help patients practice getting items in and out of the car.
There will also be a Activities of Daily Living (ADL) suite where patients can spend the night and practice independence before returning home. In the suite they have a full kitchen, laundry room and other amenities.
Some community members support the facility’s efforts through funds and time.
Recently, Margolin Hebrew Academy’s high school girls began visiting Alzheimer’s patients. They helped download songs on an iPod as part of the national “Music & Memory” program. The songs are from their youth, and Ashner said the results have been “amazing,”
The new space also features a larger dining room. The kitchen is the only kosher facility within eight states. Recently, residents came from a similar center in Nashville because they wanted kosher foods, but needed long-term care.
Only about 25 percent of the patients are Jewish, and a handful of the staff adheres to the Jewish traditions, according to Ashner. The facility offers services for other religions.
The center is an agency of United Way and receives funding from Medicare and Medicaid patients and private pay and has support from foundations and donors.