July 14, 2022
CONTACT:
Margie Laurin
Communications Coordinator
Berkshire Healthcare Systems, Inc.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
413-464-6843
East Longmeadow Memory Care Assisted Living celebration and ribbon cutting on
Tuesday July 12, 2022
A ribbon cutting celebration was held this past Tuesday afternoon, July 12, 2022, at the East Longmeadow Memory Care Assisted Living Center, the newest addition at the Meadows Crossing campus.
2nd Hampden District State Representative Brian Ashe presented Berkshire Healthcare Systems President and CEO, Bill Jones, with a citation in recognition of the opening of the 20-unit memory care assisted living community. In his congratulatory remarks, Representative Ashe thanked Berkshire Healthcare for providing much needed compassionate and innovative care and services to the residents of the community.
Jennifer Metsch, Director of Constituent Services for Massachusetts State Senator Eric Lesser, and State Representative Jacob Oliviera of the 7th Hampden District also attended the event along with approximately 75 other area professionals and East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing and Assisted Living staff members.
The opening of this community completes the final phase of a campus of care that began several years ago. The intention was to provide an innovative, supportive campus that cohorts post-acute care and senior housing along side health and wellness services for the East Longmeadow-Longmeadow community.
Efforts to replace the East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing Center that had been providing services to East Longmeadow, and the greater Hampden County, since 1965 with a brand new state-of-the-art facility began shortly after Baystate Health established their Health and Wellness building on the Longmeadow side of the Meadows Crossing campus in early 2019. In March of 2020, the brand new 131 all-private room skilled nursing care center opened just days before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. That deterred the organization from celebrating the grand opening of that marquis center at that time. At Tueday’s event, Representative Ashe also provided a second citation to Berkshire Healthcare recognizing the two year anniversary of that skilled nursing center.
Mr. Jones commented, “This celebration was the perfect opportunity to express our gratitude for all those that helped bring the vision of this project to life despite complex challenges that the COVID pandemic presented us with.” He went on to say, “We are honored to be able to provide this expanded, specialized, memory care program to members of the community and their loved ones who struggle with early to mid-stage memory loss, or other dementia related diseases. Our goal is to create safe, enjoyable opportunities for each resident to experience, providing continued joy and fulfillment in an environment they can call home.”
The new Memory Care Assisted Living Center, along with in-home and community amenities, will provide residents with access to a licensed nurse onsite, 24-hour compassionate care providers, medication coordination, daily monitoring, life enriching daily activities and other comprehensive care services.
These amenities and services are part of Berkshire Healthcare’s Life Enrichment Program, based on a philosophy of care designed by Joanne Koenig Coste and Paul Ria, specialists in the area of memory care services.
For more information on The East Longmeadow Memory Care Assisted Living program, call 413-525-6362 or visit www.elmmemorycareassistedliving.org.
ABOUT BERKSHIRE HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS
East Longmeadow Memory Care Assisted Living is operated by Berkshire Healthcare (BHCS), a national leader among not-for-profit, post-acute care organizations in Massachusetts. In addition to this newest affiliate, BHCS owns or operates 14 rehabilitation and skilled nursing facilities in Massachusetts; Kimball Farms, a life care continuing care retirement community in Lenox; Day Brook Village Continuing Care Retirement Community in Holyoke; Linda Manor Assisted Living in Northampton; and HospiceCare in The Berkshires and Pioneer Valley Hospice & Palliative Care (Greenfield) for those with life-limiting illnesses. Berkshire Healthcare’s skilled nursing centers provide around-the-clock nursing care and patient-centered rehabilitation services, short-term rehabilitation, and post-acute and long-term care. Other affiliates include IntegriNurse, which specializes in nursing placement at BHCS facilities; and IntegriScript, BHCS’ institutional pharmacy.
