Times Union
ALBANY — About seven years ago, Albany resident Marsha Penrose received short-term treatment at St. Peter’s Nursing and Rehabilitation Center to recover from an injury that left her wheelchair-bound. “This was home,” Penrose said. “This was a wonderful place to recover, and I think it’s a terrible loss for the people in Albany.”…
…Mazzacco said prospective residents and families told staff they were looking for private rooms and modernized spaces. This is something Robert Martiniano, senior program manager at the University at Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies, has noticed in his research.
“The elderly have many more options than they did before,” Martiniano said.
Those options include 55 and older active adult communities, such as The Spinney atVan Dyke in Delmar, and senior apartments, including a mixed-use developmentbeing built in Albany called Freedom Springs. “It’s important to understand that nursing homes are less and less needed nowbecause of these other options, because there is that whole theory of aging in place,that people don’t necessarily need to be in a nursing home,” Martiniano added.”We’ve also got an older population that’s pretty much dying off because the BabyBoomers, as they get older and older, they’re not around. So we’re seeing a lot morebeds shut down.”