Many locations in Orleans County once provided residential care for elderly in home setting
This evocative sign was mercifully saved from the garbage pile by Erica Joan Wanescki who donated it to the Medina Historical Society.
By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County History
“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 6, No. 4
The Bishop Nursing Home in Medina, Rose Villa Nursing Home in Albion, the Rembrandt Nursing Home in Kendall are but a few of the Orleans County facilities that provided residential care for elderly and incapacitated patients from the 1930s to the 1970s.
Variously referred to as “convalescent homes,” “care homes” or “old-age homes,” they were privately owned and operated. Usually located in larger houses, the number of patients depended on how many bedrooms could be reconfigured and could range from 5 to 30.
In many cases the homeowners were nurses. Additional nursing staff were employed to cover shifts and nighttime hours. Doctors visited on a regular schedule and patient records were kept.
Patient care was provided in a homestyle setting. Meals were home-cooked, residents who were not bedridden could socialize in a common area. Family members or outside hired help assisted with housekeeping tasks.
The Holley Standard of June 15, 1954, contains an account of a new facility, the Birner Nursing Home in Kendall:
“After considerable remodeling and installations to conform with state laws, including the addition of a fire escape, the home is now ready for occupants. The patients will have the entire second floor, including a small sitting room of their own and a total of 12 patients can be taken care of. Mr. and Mrs. Binder and their two daughters will live downstairs”
The evolution of this era of public health care is complex. The concept of public responsibility for the care of the indigent had long been established and had evolved through various phases. By the beginning of the 20th century, the poorhouse model of care was under stress. Poverty rates among the elderly increased after the Depression and it was estimated that over 50% had insufficient income to support themselves.
The groundbreaking Social Security Act of 1935 provided a cash income to the elderly poor. However, the act prohibited the payment of cash to any “inmate of a public institution,” as a result of financial irregularities uncovered at almshouses and infirmaries. At that same time, many homeowners had lost their means of income and thus private nursing homes evolved.
The Medina Daily Journal, June 15, 1959 printed this ad for Green Acres Nursing Home in Albion.
We searched through obituary listings on www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org to compile this list:
ALBION
Doloway Nursing Home
Green Acres Nursing Home
Hughsen Nursing Home
Pagel’s Nursing Home
Parker Nursing Home
Rose Villa Nursing Home aka Hazard Nursing Home
BARRE
Waldo Nursing Home
CARLTON
Young’s Nursing Home
HOLLEY
Ethel DeVoe Nursing Home
Lynch Nursing Home
KENDALL
Birner Nursing Home
Rembrandt Nursing Home
MEDINA
Bishop Nursing Home
Casey Nursing Home
Poler Nursing Home
Timmy’s (Timmerman’s) Adult Home
This home care nursing home model was all but phased out by the early 1970s as the State Health Department imposed more stringent requirements.
Mrs. Gertude Patterson, operator of the Bishop Nursing Home in Medina, observed that they were being forced out oof business.
“Rocky (Nelson Rockefeller, (Gov. NYS 1959-1973) got a grant for state-owned nursing homes, so they are trying to force us little ones out of business so they can build big hospital type nursing homes.” (MDJ 8-10-1968)
On June 28, 1969, William Knights, Jr. presided over an auction of the “Entire Household Goods and Supplies” of “The Bishop.” Included were 24 hospital beds, 12 antique rockers, 12 regular rockers, 7, fire extinguishers, night bells, hospital commodes and “many other articles, too numerous to mention.”
(Special thanks to Mrs. Jean Cardone for her recollections. We welcome any additional information, photographs, etc. Send to Catherine.cooper@orleanscountyny.gov)
