September 15, 2022 Regular Meeting

Mr. Halper offered testimony in regards to the services and mission of Daughters of Israel Inc to provide care-giving services to the Jewish elderly. Mr. Halper stated that Daughters of Israel is a non-profit organization, whose mission is to provide health and social related services to the Jewish elderly and others in need regardless of their ability to pay. Daughters of Israel is considered a Jewish entity, which means that they celebrate Jewish holidays, serve Kosher food, etc., but anyone is welcome into the facility. Currently half of the residents are Jewish and the other half are not affiliated in the Jewish religion. Daughters of Israel is basically a skilled nursing home and are licensed by the State of New Jersey. They provide long term skilled nursing care and are licensed for 303 beds but, as of now, they currently have 150 residents. Besides the long-term care, Daughters of Israel also provide rehabilitation services, hospice care and recreational programs for the residents. In addition to operating the home, Daughters of Israel is in partnership with the Jewish community foundation that covers the Essex County and other counties. They also operate a non-profit program called Metro Transport that provides rides for senior citizens and adults with special needs to doctor appointments, the JCC in West Orange and other destinations in the county. This programs currently provides 6,000 rides per year. Mr. Halper explained that the recently low demand in skilled nursing homes is because there has been an increase in in-home care and there are other types of senior facilities including independent assisted living and skilled nursing homes that have become the last resort for seniors. So, the reasons why Daughters of Israel is doing this project in their facility is because the demand on the market has changed and the buildings current size, layout and functionality no longer matches the number of residents they are serving. The second reason is basic economics, since 70 to 75 percent of the residents pay through Medicaid, so the cost exceeds the amount they get paid from the Medicaid program. To be able to cover their losses, Daughter of Israel do fundraisers, have government grants and have support from the Jewish federation, but they know this is not a sustainable long-term model. In 2018, Daughters of Israel had studies in market done by a company

isers, have government grants and have support from the Jewish federation, but they know this is not a sustainable long-term model. In 2018, Daughters of Israel had studies in market done by a company called PMD Advisory Services, where they recommended that Daughters of Israel needed to substantially reduce its skilled nursing footprint and, if Daughters of Israel wants to still be a viable entity going forward, they need to get into the independent living and assisted living business and provide these cares and services to the residents. Daughters of Israel were also told that if they do nothing that they will probably be out of business within the next 10 to 15 years. Mr. Halper mentioned that the consultant came up with three options. One was to build a smaller facility at a different location, the second option was to sell the facility to a for-profit organization and the last option was to stay and build new buildings at the current location, which included a smaller skilled nursing building and build an independent living and assisted living facility. The consultants recommended the third option based on the current location of the building. The plan for this application is to build 182 independent living units, 64 assisted living units and