Dara Diorio Casey started her career in health care by interning at Elant in Goshen 11 years ago.
“I was working on getting two master”™s degrees at the same time,” recalled  Casey, “and interning at the nursing home, too. It was a great learning experience for me, and I knew I wanted to work with the senior population.”
After receiving her double degrees, she became a social worker at the Goshen facility.
But when an opportunity came along to become  a nursing home director, Casey went to work for the Kasin family, who owned two nursing homes in Dutchess County. When the Kasins decided to sell their facilities to Elant two years ago, Casey stayed on and went back to work for her former employer and became executive director of the Wappingers Falls nursing facility, renamed Elant at Wappingers.
“I”™ve gone full circle,” Casey said. “I”™m glad I had a good relationship with Elant and left on good terms ”“ now, they”™ve asked me to move back to where I originally interned, Elant at Goshen, to take over as its executive director.”
For Casey, it will mean saying goodbye to a “great staff here and to the patients and volunteers who regularly come in to help support the seniors who live here.” Casey said the Elderact program, which partners with Roy C. Ketcham High School, “has been great for our seniors who can”™t get out…they just finished a project where they helped assemble care packages for our military service people overseas. Each person had something to do, even if it was just as simple as putting one item in a bag and passing down the line. It”™s important to feel you are necessary. Even though we don”™t have a big staff, and we are concerned Albany is going to ask us to ”˜bite the bullet”™ more than we”™ve already done, thanks to the students and our volunteers, as well as our dedicated staff, we”™re able to keep our seniors ”“ some of whom are in their late 80s ”“ as engaged as possible. That”™s so important for them.”
Casey has seen a shift in nursing home care reflecting a change in how elder care was perceived when she first started interning over a decade ago. “We are seeing people coming in for short-term rehabilitation and going back to their homes, a relatively new shift for seniors. More and more are living longer and healthier and come to us for physical therapy and short stays after they”™ve had surgery. Seniors want to stay in their homes as long as possible and live independently.”
For those who can”™t, however, Casey says nursing homes have come a long way, although an extra pair of helping hands is always welcome. “Volunteers are a godsend,” said Casey, who said her mother took time out to help decorate a room at the Wappingers facility where residents can go in, relax and listen to music and enjoy aromatherapy, “which really does help soothe people emotionally….we are doing whatever we can to make our permanent residents comfortable and involved. But regular visits from family members and volunteers, like the kids from Ketcham High School, really make a big difference in their quality of life.”
Now, Casey is readying to take over Elant”™s nursing care facility in Goshen, which has more than 100 residents, nearly double the Wappingers facility.
“I”™m up to the challenge and really looking forward to it. It”™s great that Elant at Goshen has a full-time daycare center on the premises; it gives the residents there a chance to interact with children, which is always great for both the seniors and for the kids. They make the seniors feel important and needed, and the children also get accustomed to being around older people. We”™re a region where our senior population is higher than other parts of the state and nation, so it”™s important the younger generation not have any qualms about being around older people and get to know and enjoy their attention as much as the seniors enjoy them.”
Medicaid pays for approximately 70 percent of the bill for those who are permanent nursing home residents. “We know the state is facing some incredibly tough times, and yes, some people have defrauded the system, which is a shame. Does the Medicaid system need better oversight? It certainly does … but not at the expense of our most vulnerable population. There are people, particularly seniors who can no longer care for themselves and have no financial resources, who deserve care at the end of life without having to compromise their well-being.”
Casey, like many in her field, are waiting and watching to see what Gov. David Paterson will do with the state”™s budget. She and other members of Elant”™s executive staff visited Albany to tell legislators “not to throw the baby out with the bathwater…yes, make some changes to tighten up areas and come down hard on those who try to defraud the system, but don”™t hurt the people who have nowhere to go. We are their last refuge and resource, and we are already working triple-time to keep them safe, comfortable and try to bring some quality into their lives. They worked for it and deserve it. Our CNAs (certified nursing assistants) are the backbone of our senior health system…we need more of them, not more cutbacks.”
