Emory Healthcare's 250-bed Budd Terrace nursing home is undergoing a $5 million renovation project designed to improve resident rooms and many public areas.

"We plan to renovate each resident room and bathroom, common bath areas, day room, nurse's stations and the dining rooms on each resident floor," said Budd Terrace administrator Ray Hayes. "We are excited to be able to offer a new, modern place to live and work for our residents and staff."

The project is expected to cost slightly more than $5 million. The Wesley Woods Foundation donated $2.5 million, and the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation matched it with a $2.5 million grant. The total renovation, which began on May 14, is projected to take about 35 months.

"Facilities like Budd Terrace are more important now than ever," Hayes said. "The number of people in Georgia over age 65 is growing at nearly twice the rate of the younger population, and the 85-plus age group is growing at nearly three times the rate of those under 65."

"We are very grateful to Ms. Lillian Darden and the Wesley Woods Foundation, along with the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, for their generous donations to Budd Terrace," said Peter Basler, chief operating officer for Wesley Woods and the Center for Rehabilitation Medicine. "We are excited to start the project and look forward to its completion, when we will have not only one of the best nursing homes in the country but one of the most beautiful."

Since 1972, Budd Terrace and its staff have provided thousands of seniors and individuals in need of special care with a comfortable and nurturing home. Much of its success is due to Budd Terrace's commitment to helping people age in healthy, affordable and ethical ways.

"As residents age," Hayes said, "Budd Terrace accommodates their needs by offering skilled nursing care while continuing to attend to residents' physical, spiritual and social needs, including special care for residents with Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases."

In addition to ongoing medical management provided by Emory's board-certified geriatricians, physician's assistants, nurse practitioners and nursing staff, residents are cared for on many levels through the family support groups, personalized spiritual programs and 24-hour availability of pastoral care.

In addition to nursing home care, Budd Terrace opened a 26-bed sub-acute care unit for patients who need skilled nursing care on a temporary basis. Patients, typically on Medicare, are admitted to the sub-acute unit directly from traditional hospitals. These patients are being treated for a variety of ailments, including neurological, orthopaedic, cardiac, respiratory and general debilities associated with recent surgery or illness. The average length of stay is 23.4 days, and patients are generally discharged to their home or an assisted living center. The unit, which opened in August 2003, is expected to expand to 48 beds over the next two years.

 "The sub-acute care unit is an important addition," Hayes said. "It decreases the time patients have to stay in a hospital, and it offers a clinical transition to their home."