Press Release
March 2005
St. Mary's Launches the First Licensed Home Healthcare Agency Specializing
in Pediatric Rehabilitation in New York City
After 135 years of service dedicated to treating children with special needs,
St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children is proud to announce that it is expanding
its home care program to include a licensed home care services agency (LHCSA),
St. Mary's Community Care Professionals. St. Mary's home care programs, headquartered
in New Hyde Park, are nationally renowned for excellence in providing specialized
nursing, medical, and rehabilitative care for children with chronic disabilities
and/or life-threatening illnesses living at home.
More than 25 years ago, St. Mary's pioneered the concept of providing long
term home health care to children with special needs. Today, in an age of escalating
costs of healthcare and advanced medical technology allowing children with life-threatening
illnesses to live longer, the value of St. Mary's home care programs are two-fold.
First, it allows children with life-limiting and chronic illnesses to be cared
for in the comfort of their own homes and surrounded by their families. Second,
medical and rehabilitative care provided in the home is less costly than the cost
of care for similar services in a hospital or skilled nursing facility (SNF);
according to the National Association of Home Care and Hospice, costs for an average
home care visit are 3% of those for a day of hospital charges, or 20% of those
for a day of charges in a SNF.
St. Mary's Community Care Professionals, as a LCHSA, will have greater flexibility
in the kinds of care offered than other home care agencies, and can provide either
short or long term care. Such care could include, but are not limited to, nursing
care, home health aides, physical and speech therapy, and case management. Services
are available for patients and families living in all 5 boroughs of New York City,
Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, Sullivan, and
Ulster counties. Referrals to St. Mary's Community Care Professionals may come
from a variety of sources including physicians, social workers, schools, and from
families directly.
(L to R) St. Mary's Home Care Team Coordinator, Gyerdy Vincent, during a
home visit with the Anderson family in Queens.
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