Proposed Village for Healthcare and Rehabilitation of the Workmen’s Circle in Freehold Township would include facilities for long-term and sub-acute care, and assisted living. Photo courtesy Jonathan Jaffe
May 20, 2008
The Zoning Board of Adjustment in Freehold Township is set to review a proposal for a facility that would provide care to Jewish seniors.
The Village for Healthcare and Rehabilitation of the Workmen’s Circle is seeking to construct a home to care for elderly Jewish residents from Freehold Township and throughout the central New Jersey region.
The township’s zoning board will hear the facility’s application for construction at its meeting on Thursday, May 22, at 7:30 p.m.
The property is currently zoned for light industrial use, and planners are seeking a use variance to build at that location.
The proposal for the facility, which was designed by NK Architects of Morristown, calls for 152 beds for long-term and sub-acute care; 37 suites for assisted living care; and eight contained courtyards, Goldberg said. The facility also will provide hospice care and will be constructed on approximately 14 acres on Halls Mill Road. It will be competitively priced in accordance with other area nursing homes, said Marshall Goldberg, president and CEO of the project.
Planners opened a Freehold Township office in 2007. The approximate cost of the proposed construction will reach $60 million.
Goldberg told NJ Jewish News that he hopes to open the facility within 18 to 20 months. Village officials are not expecting any zoning board concerns regarding the proposal, he added.
If the proposal is approved, the facility will be built and operated by the New Jersey Workmen’s Circle, a nonprofit organization with roots in secular Jewish and Yiddish culture that owned and operated a skilled nursing home in Elizabeth for nearly 60 years, Goldberg said.
“A 2006 marketing study indicated that although there is a growing population of older Jews in Monmouth County, there is no nonprofit care facility that is truly Jewish,” said Goldberg. “The village will be kosher and will give residents the chance to age with dignity.”
“This will be a corridor-free residence, in which patients will live in households of 12 to 16 beds,” Goldberg said. “Each house will feature its own family-style living room, dining room, activity area, and kitchen. This kind of setting will give residents the chance to live in non-institutional, small households with a full support staff.”
A schedule of Jewish religious and cultural activities is under development that will enable residents to practice and celebrate their religion. The facility also will be a “state-of-the-art” residence that will incorporate the latest designs, technologies, and services to care for its population, Goldberg said.
“It’s a totally new entity,” he said. “There are no other kosher, nonprofit facilities like this in Monmouth, Middlesex, and Ocean counties. And it is designed to promote the independence of its residents, while serving the needs of the Jewish elderly.”
In another measure to make the facility less institutional, meals will be served by a traditional wait staff, he added.
“No more hospital food,” he quipped. “No more green Jell-O.”
Township Mayor Eugene Golub said state law prohibits him from commenting on the planners’ zoning proposal.
“The zoning board is a separate entity from the township committee,” he said. “It is completely independent.”
However, the proposal has won praise from the Jewish Federation of Monmouth County, according to Howard Gases, the federation’s executive director.
“There is no question that this is a wonderful idea,” Gases told NJJN. “The Jewish elderly will have access to a full facility that offers nursing care, assisted living arrangements, and long-term care. It will be fabulous for the Jewish community.”
Gases said he is looking forward to attending the facility’s groundbreaking ceremony.
“I’ll be there for that, as well as other events,” he said. “The Village has worked hard to build comfort and trust in the Jewish community. People work hard all their lives and they deserve to end their days in nice surroundings.”
The skilled nursing home has been designed as a two-story structure that will total approximately 100,000 square feet of space for private resident bedrooms and amenities that include a kosher delicatessen, spa, game rooms, and a beauty salon. The nursing home component also will include alcoves for care stations and medication.
The plans for the assisted living units call for a separate, two-story structure that will occupy approximately 44,000 square feet of space. Common areas for the households include a central dining room and recreational areas. The plan also includes an adult medical day care center and doctors’ offices.
“The household model is an innovative form of long-term care for the elderly,” Goldberg said. “Research has shown that the conventional, institutional model seems to develop a sense of loneliness, boredom, and helplessness.”
Goldberg said meeting rooms will be available to any Jewish group or organization at no charge. Plans also are underway to create priority enrollment for local residents, ensuring that neighbors will continue to live with neighbors, Goldberg said.
“Our project is a natural progression that will serve the demographics swing in the Jewish population of New Jersey, in which communities in Monmouth, Middlesex, and Ocean counties have experienced a substantial growth in the number of Jewish residents,” Goldberg said.
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