St. Camillus, with the assistance of a $2.5 million grant
through the Governor’s Empire State Supportive
Housing Initiative (ESSHI), is providing programs and
services to 20 Department of Health (DOH), Medicaid
Redesign Team (MRT) residents at Harborbrook who
are frail elderly and individuals with a physical disability
or chronic condition who are currently in or at risk of
placement in a SNF and can safely live in the community.
Funded supports include a part-time registered nurse;
a service coordinator, responsible for ensuring that any
community needs required by residents are organized
and coordinated; independent living skills trainers, who,
on the recommendation of the service coordinator,
will work with residents who require assistance with
grocery shopping, bill management and other higher-
level activities of daily living; and 24-hour emergency
attendants, responsible for addressing any emergent
health needs that occur outside of the time that
residents’ aides or assistants are present. Also included
as part of the ESSHI grant is funding for residents’
security deposits, their first month’s rent, a portion of
their utilities and further rent subsidies depending on
their level of income. Outside of ESSHI, St. Camillus is
also offering residents rehabilitation services and home
health care through its home care agency.
With special design features that
accommodate their changing
needs and services that bridge
them to essential supports within
the community, Harborbrook is
bringing the goal of aging in place
well within reach for many seniors
— and new truth to the idea that
“there’s no place like home.”
For the staff at St. Camillus and Christopher Community,
the Harborbrook Apartments represent an important
step toward addressing the emerging health needs
of Syracuse’s vulnerable populations and helping
them age in place with the highest quality of life
possible. Harborbrook residents, for their part, are
just as enthusiastic about being able to return to an
independent living environment. With special design
features that accommodate their changing needs and
services that bridge them to essential supports within
the community, Harborbrook is bringing the goal of
aging in place well within reach for many seniors — and
new truth to the idea that “there’s no place like home.”
For more information about the Harborbrook
Apartments, please contact Christopher
Community at 315-424-1821 or visit
www.christopher-community.org.
You may also contact The Home Care Center
at St. Camillus at 315-488-2831 or visit
www.st-camillus.org/programs-services/home-care.
leadingageny.org 30