Organizational structure and design principles

Jewish Home Lifecare

Mission & Organizational Support

Jewish Home Lifecare: Mission & Organizational Support

With over 160 years experience, Jewish Home Lifecare is a leading provider of nursing and support services for the elderly Jewish community. As stated on their website, Jewish Home Lifecare's mission is to provide "a broad spectrum of care and serve as a resource on concerns of aging or elders and caregivers" (Who We Are, para. 2). JHL's Research Institute on Aging employs licensed physicians, psychologists, cognitive scientists, sociologists, social workers, and public health specialists towards the goal of expanding knowledge of the aging process in order to better serve aging adults and their families in a multitude of ways. Jewish Home Lifecare is currently divided into three campuses. While the Sarah Neuman campus located in Westchester provides 24-hr nursing services, short-term rehabilitation services and adult daycare, the Manhattan campus specializes in the long-term home health care, and the Bronx campus is a full-service nursing home. Jewish Home Lifecare is currently owned by the Chetrit Group, a New York real estate and property management company.

Organizational Structure

Audrey Weiner, President and CEO of Jewish Home Life Care, is responsible for overseeing all facets of care provided at each facility, to include long-term nursing, short-term rehabilitation, long or short-term home care, adult day care, elderly housing and transportation services. Each facility is managed by a senior Administrator, to include Kathleen McArdle of the Sarah Neuman Center, Rita Morgan of the Bronx Division, and Judith Nicholson of the Manhattan campus. As senior Administrator of the Sarah Neuman Center, Kathleen McArdle "is responsible for planning, organizing and directing all areas of the 300-bed residential care facility" in Westchester, while Rita Morgan "oversees the 816-bed nursing home and rehabilitation center" in the Bronx, and Judith Nicholson manages the 514-bed nursing facility in the heart of Manhattan (Executive Management Team, para. 3-4).

In addition to the facility administrators, Bridget Gallagher serves as Senior Vice President of Community Services, to include Home Care, Day Care, Lifecare Plus, and Transportation services. Of the 10,000 patients Jewish Home Lifecare annually serves, 60-percent of them are serviced by the Community Services Division.

JHL supporting management includes Thomas Gilmartin, Chief Administrative Officer responsible for managing the Finance, Legal, Pharmaceutical, Information Technology and Materials departments; Bruce Nathonson, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications; and Audrey Wathan, Senior Vice President of Human Resources. As it is not uncommon for JHL patients to require several types of care, each member of the Executive Management Team works together to facilitate care between facilities-in the forms of transportation, patients admissions, transfers, discharges and the maintenance of patient records-towards the objective of providing a truly comprehensive elderly care experience.

Nursing and Other Services

The JHL nursing staff is supervised by campus Administrators and attending physicians. Nurses work closely with physicians, physical therapists, occupational and speech therapists, clinical dietitians, audiologists, medical specialists, pharmacists and social workers. Twenty-four skilled nursing is provided at each campus, however the Manhattan campus is the primary long-term nursing care facility. In addition to 24-hour nursing, health services provided at the Manhattan campus include:

Adult Day Healthcare (seven days a week)

Adult Day Social Care

Alzheimer's Special Care

Long-Term Home Healthcare

Short-term Rehabilitation and Sub-acute Care

Occupational, Speech and Physical Therapy

Lifecare Plus

Swallowing Center Services

Computerized Pharmaceutical Services

The Manhattan campus also serves as a training ground for fourth-year medical students enrolled in the Mount Sinai School of Medicine geriatrics program.

Cases that prove to be short-term are often transferred from Manhattan to the Sarah Neuman Center in Westchester. Towards of the goal of fulfilling the mission to "help those we care for to experience the best life possible," nursing services provided at the Sarah Neuman Center include:

Twenty-four nursing in a secure residential setting.

Twenty-four medical coverage supported by onsite and on-call physicians.

Onsite medical specialist consulting services.

Individualized therapy sessions, to include speech therapy, physical therapy, art and music therapy.

Nutritional services supported by staff dietitians.

Onsite pharmaceutical and laboratory services. (Sarah Neuman, para. 9)

Patients that require long-term residential care are often transferred to the Bronx nursing home which provides all of the above services, in addition to highly individualized care services and therapies for "more complex clinical needs" (Bronx, para. 4). These needs include-but are not limited to-progressive Alzheimer's, severe vision impairment, severe speech and swallowing impairments, and chronic kidney disease requiring hemodialysis.

Structural Support of Mission

That each facility essentially provides the same services in various degrees helps to support the mission of providing a broad spectrum of care and services for the elderly. For example, each care facility provides 24-skilled nursing and onsite or on-call physicians, in addition to staff therapists, nutritionists, and medical specialists, however the degree between facilities varies from short-term to long-term and more acute care. Supporting all levels of care, the Research Institute on Aging assumes a "multidisciplinary approach [that] recognizes the complex interrelationships among biophysical, social, and psychological processes that influence the functioning and well-being of alder adults and their families" (Research Institute on Aging, para. 2). Furthermore, towards the goal of expanding knowledge of the aging process and care requirements, the Institute provides training for master's and doctoral level students, in addition to post-doctoral fellows in fields such as medicine, nursing, psychology and social work.

Potential for Organizational Breakdown