JGS Lifecare’s Sosin Center for Rehabilitation Welcomes First Patients

LONGMEADOW — Louis Lucchesi of Springfield became the first-ever resident in JGS Lifecare’s Sosin Center for Rehabilitation on Dec. 12, marking the arrival of the first Green House-certified residence in Western Mass. JGS Lifecare dedicated the Sosin Center in November, successfully passing all regulatory requirements for opening in December.

“I may never want to leave,” Lucchesi said jokingly as he settled into his new short-stay home. He’d begun his day in a room on the New York unit of JGS Lifecare’s Leavitt Family Jewish Home, which was built in 1972.
“In the ’70s, nursing homes were built like hospitals,” said Andrew Steiner, executive director of Leavitt Family Jewish Home. “They were designed with long halls, nursing stations, and a limited number of private rooms. The Sosin Center is crafted around a philosophy of de-institutionalized, home-style living with increased focus on individual autonomy.”

Lucchesi was the first of three patients who moved into the first-floor Sosin household on Dec. 12.

The 24,000-square-foot Sosin Center is only the third Green House Project facility in Massachusetts. The center carries the name of George Sosin, a JGS volunteer, family member, former resident, and supporter who left $3 million to JGS Lifecare in support of the center, the largest contribution received in its 104-year history.

Designed by Perkins Eastman, an industry leader in the planning and design of elder-care facilities and short-term rehabilitation programs, the Sosin Center contains two households that have been designed from the ground up to give residents the same feeling and experience as living in a real home, only under the guidance of a dedicated team of qualified caregivers called Shahbazim, who have received 120 hours of specialized Green House training in the core principles of ‘real home,’ ‘meaningful life,’ and ‘empowered staff.’

Each household accommodates 12 short-stay residents who receive physical, occupational, and speech-language therapies that are important to daily life, by practicing normal, everyday activities with their caregivers and therapists. Higher staffing levels ensure more than a fourfold increase in staff time spent engaging with residents, improving the quality of care. The center’s small-house model of care has been proven to reduce medication use by patients post-rehab with fewer return trips to the hospital.

“Currently, more than 68% of all short-stay residents at JGS Lifecare have made improvements in function, which is nearly 15% above the Massachusetts average. With the addition of the Sosin Center, we expect those numbers to be even stronger,” said Martin Baicker, president and CEO, of JGS Lifecare.

Added Dr. Robert Baevsky, and chair of the JGS Lifecare board of directors, “as a physician, I am convinced of the positive healthcare outcomes and improvements in the quality of life under this model.”

All 24 rooms in the two-story Sosin Center are private, with full baths, and each home has a shared living room, dining room, den, kitchen, salon, and screened porch, which provides seasonal access to the outdoors. For admissions information, call (413) 567-6211.