Read the letter from Congressman Pallone

Charity Begins at Home
Immediately after Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast, the senior team at CareOne health systems in New Jersey sat down together in their main offices in Fort Lee to determine the impact the storm may have had on the centers, its patients and the business. It was during that time when Daniel Straus heard what turned out to be the most devastating part of CareOne’s story.

His daughter Elizabeth and the administrative team summed up the impact on the facilities as having been fairly light, but more than 100 of their staff and employees were now either homeless, living in a mess, and have suffered enormous losses personally due to the unprecedented flooding and winds. Daniel decided to act then and organize an effort to make his staff comfortable again.

Believing strongly that these people have given CareOne so much of themselves over the years working for him, he knew that his priority was to see that his people were alright. “People who have been here for ten years, even longer, were now homeless,” Straus said. “Knowing that they were hurt was the deepest pain for us; we had to do something.”

Elizabeth Straus spearheaded an effort along with close family friends, Raphael Benaroya and Justice Gary S. Stein to raise more than $1 million to give back to the staff at the company. They held a casino night fundraiser, and Daniel Straus and those friends whom he asked all contributed to fund as well.

On Wednesday, April 24th, 2013, Daniel Straus and his team personally handed the last of the checks to about 40 members of the staff at the King George facility in Atlantic Highlands, right around the area hit hardest by the October storm.

Straus said, “To see them in need and then not do something hurt much, and now we have an opportunity to to give it back to them and make them whole again.”

Letter from Governor Christie recognizing Daniel Straus and CareOne Sandy Relief Efforts

Letter from Congressman Pallone Recognizing Daniel Straus and CareOne Sandy Relief Efforts

The award ceremony follows CareOne’s initial donation to employees to provide relief during the December holidays. In all, Daniel E. Straus and CareOne have raised in excess of $1 million in relief funds to benefit roughly 100 employees and their immediate relatives. The funds are being distributed following an application process and a thorough assessment of damages incurred by each employee and their immediate family members.

At the ceremony, Daniel E. Straus will distribute $30,000 to community-based relief funds: $15,000 each to the Hope For Highlands and Middletown Disaster Relief Fund.

Joining Mr. Straus will be Highlands Council President Rebecca Kane, Highlands Council woman Tara Ryan, Highlands Business Partnership President Carla Cefalo-Braswell and Former Middletown Mayor and Founder of the Middletown Disaster Relief Fund, Anthony P. Fiore.

The ceremony will take place at CareOne at King James at 1040 Route 36 Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716 from 2:00 – 4:00 PM EDT.

Daniel E. Straus, President, Chairman and CEO of CareOne , New Jersey’s largest family owned and operated senior care provider believes the aging demographic occurring throughout the United States represents an opportunity for healthcare providers, one that he saw coming 15 years ago when he started CareOne.

“When I started CareOne in 1998, I knew that our sub-acute care centers would fill a gap in the communities we were planning to operate in. Hospitals were facing increasing pressure to lower their length of stay to ensure financial solvency, but that meant high quality secondary care providers were needed to continue caring for patients who had the need for around the clock, complex medical management.”

Straus’ company started with 4 nursing and rehabilitation centers in Bergen County, NJ, and has grown today to 30 care centers spanning 11 counties. “Our model has proven to be successful, and we have expanded our service line to include not only short term rehabilitation following a hospital stay, but also assisted living communities, home care, hospice care and inpatient units known as Long Term Acute Care Hospitals, which are units CareOne operates within hospitals for patients with significant medical care needs such as ventilator management and wound care.”

CareOne admits over 20,000 patients per year throughout New Jersey and Straus states that over 90% of patients admitted for medical and physical rehabilitation return to their prior living situation with marked improvement in their health.

“The healthcare landscape is changing at a rapid pace” states Straus. “The Medicare system is in need of rapid reform due to financial solvency issues, while health care technologies are enabling people to live longer with better quality of life. Our goal throughout the CareOne network has always been to provide patients and their families, insurers, physicians and hospitals a wide array of care options to address the health care needs and dynamics of an expanding senior population.”

Unlike hospitals, our nursing and rehabilitation centers have more time to successfully rehabilitate patients to ensure they return home safely and recovered. Our facilities have also adapted clinically so that we are now able to offer specialized nursing services that were once only available to the hospital.”

CareOne’s spectrum of care services also ensure that care is coordinated throughout a patients acute care episode, a strategy that was deliberate when Straus first started Care One. “I recognized early on that to be successful in senior health care, you have to provide choices. It is not uncommon for a patient who comes to our nursing and rehabilitation centers after orthopedic surgery or following a stroke to have a need for assisted living, home care and even long term care somewhere down the line. By offering a broad range of care options, we are able to take the guess work and confusion out of the decision making process as well as make sure that care is coordinated appropriately throughout our continuum.” In Livingston, NJ for example, CareOne services include short term rehabilitation care, long term care, assisted living and specialized dementia care in a campus setting as well as a Medicare certified home care and hospice company.

In the past year, several New Jersey hospitals have received approval to become “Accountable Care Organizations.” These organizations, approved by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services share in savings from Medicare by meeting certain quality guidelines and providing care more efficiently than in the past.

“In some sense, we have always been an accountable care organization” Straus says of CareOne. “The concept of delivering outcome oriented care in a lower cost setting is one that we embraced from day one.”

As for the future of senior healthcare in New Jersey, Straus says “I am certain the trend and demand for high quality care services will only increase. I expect to see growth in the number of patients requiring short term care in our facilities after a hospital stay, and possibly being admitted directly to our facilities instead of a hospital in certain instances. I also see the role of the patient’s primary care physician increasing with more accountability being placed on the part of the physician as it relates to patient outcomes and cost and this is a good thing.”

To learn more about CareOne and their services, visit their website at www.care-one.com

Based on the most recent Nursing Home Compare ratings published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CareOne sub-acute care centers in New Jersey provide 48% more therapy per patient day than the average for all nursing and rehabilitation centers throughout the state and 53% more than the national average. The full nursing home compare ratings and information can be found at www.cms.gov on the nursing home compare website.

CareOne has developed a model of care focused on short term recovery of patients following a hospital stay. CareOne has been operating nursing and rehabilitation centers for the past 15 years, and has helped thousands of patients return to their prior living setting following a hospital and rehabilitation stay. Each patient is admitted to CareOne and a tailored rehabilitation care plan is developed under the direction of a physician specializing in rehabilitation medicine.

The company also provides physical therapy services 7 days a week in all 24 care centers located throughout New Jersey through its company managed physical and occupational therapy program.

In 2012, 90% of CareOne patients returned to their prior living situation following a rehabilitation stay with significant improvements in areas such as ambulation, and activities of daily living (i.e. self bathing and self dressing). CareOne monitors its clinical outcomes through a rehabilitation outcomes tracking system known as Casamba from which this data is collected. Patient’s recovering from common conditions such as orthopedic joint replacement, stroke and cardiac surgery benefit from clinical guidelines and protocols developed by CareOne clinicians and aimed at maximizing strength and independence.

For more information on CareOne locations and services, visit www.care-one.com

We invite you to visit the new CareOne at Madison Avenue. If you are searching
for the highest quality of care for your elderly loved one, CareOne at Madison
Avenue offers a gracious, state-of-the-art environment, coupled with
compassionate and experienced healthcare professionals who are dedicated
to excellence in care.

Our services include after hospital rehabilitation, extended stay and long-term
care as well as a separate, dedicated program for people living with Alzheimer’s.

TAKE A TOUR
Enjoy a complimentary brunch!
We’ll be raffling off an iPad, Kindle, and $500 gift card, just in time for Mother’s Day!

To join us for brunch, please call our Admissions Office at 973-656-2700. Please RSVP by May 1st.

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A long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) is designed to serve patients with complex medical needs that require a lengthier treatment program, usually between 25 to 35 days. Those who meet this clinical profile generally require a variety of care, including telemetry and cardiac monitoring, ventilator weaning/pulmonary management, antibiotic therapy, complex wound care and healing, nutrition services, physical/occupational/speech therapy, social services and patient education.

The CareOne LTACH is a separate entity from Trinitas Regional Medical Center; however, CareOne will use many of the ancillary hospital services for which Trinitas is known. As the first LTACH to be licensed by the state, CareOne has had a presence for nine years at Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy. Its success there was influential in Trinitas Regional Medical Center’s decision to enter into its agreement to rent space to CareOne.

“Trinitas Regional Medical Center had a vision to reconfigure office space and a former patient area in a new and meaningful way at our Williamson Street Campus,” said Gary S. Horan, president and chief executive officer. “We realized the value of LTACH services as a supplement to our own patient-care services. Each organization can draw on the strengths of the other in order to achieve a new and exciting level of patient care for our community.”

“We look forward to expanding our expertise in the long-term acute care environment at our new facility within Trinitas Regional Medical Center,” said Sharon Bready, CareOne LTAC Hospital chief executive officer for both long-term acute care hospitals at Raritan Bay Medical Center and now Trinitas Regional Medical Center. “Our new relationship with Trinitas will provide us the opportunity to serve patients from both the local community as well as neighboring areas.”

“CareOne and Trinitas are committed to providing superior, multifaceted care in a brilliant new patient care environment,” Horan said.

Trinitas Regional Medical Center, a major center for comprehensive health services for those who live and work in central New Jersey, is a Catholic teaching medical center sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth in partnership with Elizabethtown Healthcare Foundation. With 10 Centers of Excellence across the continuum of care, Trinitas has distinguished itself in cardiology, cancer care, behavioral health, renal care, nursing education, diabetes management, wound healing and sleep medicine. For more information, visit www.trinitasrmc.org or call (908) 994-5138.

CareOne Management is a family-owned company with more than 45 years of health-care experience. CareOne operates 29 health-care centers throughout New Jersey, including two LTACH units.

Read original article from the Star Ledger

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On Wednesday evening February 20th, CareOne at Teaneck welcomed world renowned Jewish cookbook author Susie Fishbein for an evening of culinary instruction, discussion and good old-fashioned taste testing. 75 members of the Bergen County community filled CareOne at Teaneck’s dining room for the show.

Susie presented three dishes for the event. She began with vegetarian cigars and homemade chummos, followed by a red lentil soup and concluded with a baklava dessert. All three dishes were recipes from her world famous cookbooks. After demonstrating each dish, CareOne at Teaneck’s dietary staff served each dish individually to the attendees. All of the samples were prepared by CareOne at Teaneck’s own kitchen staff. The food was so tasty that the attendees felt as though Susie herself had made it for them. In an effort to expand on the current resident menu, CareOne at Teaneck is looking to add these three dishes for their residents’ enjoyment.

The event generated so much community interest, that CareOne at Teaneck is already planning to have Susie come back in the near future for another show.

Three recipes of the dishes:
Zucchini Lentil Soup
Baklava Bites
Creamy Chummos