Isabella Geriatric Center

Isabella's mission is to provide quality care to older adults, their families and caregivers through diverse programs designed to promote health and independence within and beyond our walls.

Description and/or History:
Part of the northern Manhattan community for more than 130 years, Isabella Geriatric Center was founded as a not-for-profit, non-sectarian home for the elderly in 1875 and currently operates one of the largest nursing homes in Manhattan. While the mission of Isabella’s community outreach efforts is to enhance the health of the thousands of seniors and their families living in the Washington Heights, Inwood and Harlem neighborhoods, its well-known on-campus programs include:

• A 705-bed skilled nursing facility.
  
  
• Seventy-seven apartments of affordable independent senior housing with services.
  
  
• A medical model adult day care program with a capacity of forty participants.
  
  
• An on-site medical clinic for residents which includes ophthalmology, otolaryngology, other medical specialties, and dentistry, plus a community vision-screening program for the elderly.
  
  
• A child day care program for 39 infants, toddlers and pre-school children – a unique intergenerational effort taking advantage of Isabella’s nursing home and independent living facilities by facilitating daily interaction between residents and children.
  
  
• An after school program employing nearly 100 teens from area schools.
  
  

In addition, several off-campus programs include:

• A 450-client long-term home health care program, plus a new licensed home care agency focused on training and employing local residents.
  
  
• Two Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) programs serving 800+ clients annually.
  
  
• A storefront Senior Resource Center in Washington Heights whose goal is to help independent seniors by providing educational, health and social programming in an easily accessible atmosphere. All services to the 4,000 annual clients are provided free.
  
  
• Leading a partnership with eight other community agencies to provide case management services to more than 1,200 persons aged 60 or older in the Northern Manhattan neighborhoods of Washington Heights, Inwood, and Central and West Harlem. The effort is called the Upper Manhattan Partnership for Senior Independence (UMPSI).
  
  

In 1994, Isabella received the prestigious American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging “Hobart Jackson Social Responsibility Award” as the single outstanding senior care center dedicated to community services in the nation that year. A national leader in the culture change movement, in March 2008 Isabella received a grant from the Hulda B. and Maurice L. Rothschild Foundation in recognition of its central role in changing the way urban nursing homes are restructuring the care setting to improve resident experiences.

Contact people:

Rosa Pascual, Volunteer Coordinator, (212) 342-9352, (email) Hope Miller, Vice President, (212) 342-9304, (email) Mark Kator, Chief Executive Officer, (212) 342-9300, (email)

Office fax number: (212) 781-6303

Address:

515 Audubon Avenue New York, NY 10040 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.isabella.org

Directions:

Isabella's campus is located on Audubon Avenue in Washington Heights, between 190th and 191st Streets, one block east of St. Nicholas Avenue.   Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: 191st Street #1,   Walk distance (in minutes): 3

Last updated on June 10, 2009