Syracuse, N.Y. -- The federal government has taken Central Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center off its list of the nation’s worst nursing homes because the Syracuse facility has made significant improvements in quality of care. The 160-bed home at 116 E. Castle St., formerly known as Vivian Teal Howard nursing home, was added to the list in 2006 by the...
Syracuse, N.Y. -- The federal government has taken Central Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center off its list of the nation’s worst nursing homes because the Syracuse facility has made significant improvements in quality of care.
The 160-bed home at 116 E. Castle St., formerly known as Vivian Teal Howard nursing home, was added to the list in 2006 by the federal Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services because it had a history of serious, persistent problems. Those problems got so bad in 2008 that federal regulators threatened to shut down the home.
Nursing homes on the agency’s “special focus” list are subjected to closer regulatory scrutiny and more frequent inspections by the state Health Department. Central Park was removed from the list earlier this month after three consecutive inspections since November turned up no serious deficiencies, said Jeffrey Hammond, a state Health Department spokesman.
The state Health Department lined up a new owner for the nursing home after federal regulators lost confidence in the ability of previous management to end the facility’s cycle of repeat violations. Efraim Steif, a nursing home operator from Rockland County, took over in November 2008 and renamed the facility.
“It has been a long time coming,” David Camerota, Central Park’s administrator, said of the facility’s removal from the list.
He said the new owner has given the nursing home the resources it needs to improve.
Camerota also praised the home’s 200 employees.
“Without the staff and the work they did, none of this would have been possible,” Camerota said.
The nursing home still has more work to do to improve, according to Camerota. “Consistency will be the key,” he said.
There are 134 U.S. nursing homes on the federal government’s “special focus” list. New York facilities on the list include Loretto-Utica Nursing Home in Utica, Mercy of Northern New York in Watertown, Northwoods Rehab at Hilltop in Niskayuna and The Hamptons Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation in South Hampton.