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Premier Genesee

Lockout initiated earlier today after threats lifted at Premier Genesee

By Press Release

Press release from Batavia PD:

On 09/14/2022, The Batavia Police Department responded to a call at Premier Genesee Center for Nursing and Rehab located at 278 Bank Street. Staff received several calls from an individual making threats against the facility. The center decided to go into lockout and contacted the police. A lockout is when all exterior doors are locked and no one is allowed in or out. The activities in the business are not restricted, only the entering and exiting of people. Lockouts are specifically used when there is a potential threat outside of the building. The lockout has been lifted as there does not appear to be any imminent threat to the facility. Due to the ongoing investigation, further information will not be released at this time.

Nurse goes above and beyond to bring Christmas cheer to seniors

By Virginia Kropf

Fong Liu has worked at Genesee Senior Living/Premier Genesee Nursing and Rehabilitation (formerly Genesee County Nursing Home) for 20 years, and she has seen many Christmas holidays come and go.

She has also seen the residents who have no gifts and get few or no visitors.

This year she decided to do something about it.

The facility management always makes sure there are Christmas trees for residents of the senior living side and nursing and rehabilitation, as well as the lobby. But, thanks to Liu, the Genesee Senior Living residents are going to have a real Christmas party on Christmas Day, complete with music, holiday treats and gifts for everyone.

“What good is a Christmas tree if the residents can’t celebrate?” Liu asked. “Some of our people have no relatives at all, so I decided to organize a Christmas party for everybody.”

She visited local stores, where she bought slippers, nightgowns and other items residents could use.

She planned to contact local service clubs, such as Lions, Rotary and Kiwanis to see if they would help. After a call to the Office for the Aging, Liu learned they could only help people living at home, but they suggested a call to Senior Wishes of Western New York, who said they could help the residents with no relatives.

Administrator Dorothy “Dottie” Murphy said it is absolutely wonderful what Liu is doing. The residents will be served a traditional Christmas dinner, followed by Liu’s party, several showings of a Christmas movie and popcorn. 

“Fong goes above and beyond to make the facility beautiful for all the residents,” Murphy said. “She put up all the decorations and has made sure every resident has a package to open up. We are grateful for everything she has done.”

Liu has also put on tea parties for the residents and done exercises with them. 

Anyone still wishing to contribute gifts or money toward the Christmas party can contact Murphy at (585) 344-9584, ext. 2255.

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Top photo: Nurse Fong Liu decorates the Christmas tree at Genesee Senior Living on Bank Street. Liu has taken it upon herself to have a Christmas party for residents, with music, holiday treats and gifts.

Below: Nurse Fong Liu, left, and Activities Director Alyssa McKenzie pose in front of the Christmas tree at Genesee Senior Living.

Bottom: Staff of Genesee Senior Living pose in front of a door they decorated for residents of the facility. From left are Resident Accounts representative Stephanie Mordell, nurse Fong Liu, Activities Director Alyssa McKenzie, Administrator Dorothy “Dotty” Murphy and aide Brandy Smith.

Pictures contributed by Dorothy Murphy/administrator Genesee Senior Living.

Photo: A family's happy Easter from the parking lot to a resident of Premier Genesee

By Howard B. Owens

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Photo and cutline submitted by Randy McIntire.

Margaret Worthington's family wanted to wish her a Happy Easter on Sunday. Margaret is a resident at Premier Genesee Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation.

They were able to put their wish in chalk while she looked on from her window, while under protective quarantine.  They spoke on the phone where she expressed her thanks and her love for her family.  

As time went on, more and more residents began waving and before we were finished we were wishing a Happy Easter to many onlookers.  

From left are Lisa, Mackenzie and Chris Lavrey, Amy, Kayla, Derek and Randy McIntire, Jeff McIntire and Cindy Reynolds, Randy and Colleen McIntire.

2019 Walk to End Alzheimer’s

By James Burns

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Under ideal weather conditions, as part of a national campaign, there was a walk this morning in Batavia to end Alzheimer’s.

The event started and ended at Premier Genesee Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, which hosted the event. 

Individuals and families came together to rally around friends and relatives effected by the disease. They wore colorful shirts and carried flowers that signified how Alzheimer’s affected them or their loved ones. Purple, the predominate color, signified they had lost a loved one to the disease. 

Proceeds from the walk go to the Alzheimer’s Association Western New York Chapter so they can continue to provide supportive services and education at no cost, while raising awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and Association services all across the Genesee Valley.

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Mark Your Calendar: Batavia Walk to End Alzheimer's is Sept. 21

By Billie Owens

From the Alzheimer's Association of WNY:

The Batavia Walk to End Alzheimer’s will take place on Saturday, Sept. 21.

It is part of the global Walk to End Alzheimer’s -- the world’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support and research.

On Saturday, Sept. 21, from 9 a.m. to noon, approximately 750 individuals from the greater Genesee County area — family members, caregivers, employers, friends and persons living with dementia — will honor all those impacted by the disease and fight for a world without Alzheimer’s.

Premier Genesee Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at 278 Bank St. in Batavia is hosting the event, which begins and ends there.

Proceeds from the walk ensure the Alzheimer’s Association Western New York Chapter can continue to provide supportive services and education at no cost, while raising awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and Association services all across the Genesee Valley.

While there is no fee to register or participate, we strongly encourage participants to fundraise to contribute to the cause and the Chapter offers a number of tools and materials to help with fundraising.

The Center’s outdoor park offers space to enjoy snacks and refreshments, visit with local vendors, and buy basket and 50/50 raffle tickets, while the roughly two-mile walk route offers a pleasant stroll through a lovely neighborhood.

Register today at alz.org/Walk and start fundraising to earn terrific incentives, including the 2019 purple Walk T-shirt.

Please call (716) 626-0600 or 800-272-3900 with any questions.

Residents at Premier Genesee moved off of top floors yesterday after AC outage but repairs made, portable AC units ordered to supplement system

By Howard B. Owens

Premier Genesee Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, the former county nursing home on Bank Street, Batavia, was hit by two air conditioning outages this week, according to the facility's director, but the AC is working now and portable ACs are being delivered to help improve cooling on the third, fourth, and fifth floors.

The first outage was only for a couple of hours on Monday and it was repaired that day. Yesterday, the outage lasted longer and residents were moved from the upper floors to the first-floor mall during repairs and re-cooling the building, said Executive Director Christine Schaller.

"It took a few hours to cool down the upper floors due to extreme outdoor heat," Schaller said. "We will continue checking all room temps routinely today and taking other measures to keep everyone cool."

Lisa Sofia, CEO of Premier Healthcare Management, has informed staff that 20 portable air-conditioning units have been ordered for the Batavia facility. Five are expected to arrive today and 15 on Saturday.

The units, Schaller said, will be used to assist in keeping the upper floors cool during the current heat wave.

Schaller shared an internal memo from Director of Nursing Tina Ferrando about the situation yesterday. She said state officials arrived at 1:45 p.m. to survey the situation.

"They took temperatures, interviewed residents and staff, as well as myself," Ferrando wrote. "(They) saw our plan in action -- all residents from upper units (3, 4, and 5) being comfortably cared for on the first floor -- using the mall walk, main dining room, and rehab dining rooms. It went well. We were doing everything we said we would and they seemed pleased with that."

The Batavian contacted the state's spokesman for the Department of Health. He didn't immediately have information available but said he would look into it and get back to us.

Ferrando said upper floor temps were checked about 7 p.m. and had fallen to below 81 degrees, so staff began moving residents back to those units. They were back in their units by 8:15 p.m.

"All residents were kept comfortable, enjoyed ice water, lemonade, juice, popsicles, ice cream, and other refreshments all day," Ferrando wrote, "with movies and music."

She promised supervisors will stay on top of the situation, regularly checking temperatures and immediately report any temperature increases.

UPDATE 2:30 p.m.: Statement from the State Department of Health:

“Ensuring the well-being of all nursing home residents is of the utmost importance of the state health department.  We are investigating concerns related to the Premier Genesee Rehabilitation and Nursing’s air conditioning system.  The Department will continue to closely monitor the situation.”   

Batavia artist spends more than a year painting portraits of residents at Premier Genesee

By Howard B. Owens

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It was a bigger project than he anticipated but artist Kevin Feary said he got a lot of enjoyment out of meeting a group of residents of the Premier Genesee Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Batavia so he could paint their portraits.

"The original plan was 'I'm going to be able to do this in three or four months,' " Feary said. "Well, that was a joke because I couldn't."

He expected each portrait to take just a few hours. Some of them took 20 hours to complete and that didn't include the time spent getting to know his subjects.

"I came in to meet them, got to know them, even interviewed them, say a little bit, took some notes, because it is really good to know as much as you can about somebody to get their likeness," Feary said. "I think for me it's even more important to know something about you than to just look at you and try to paint your shapes. I know that I can get it to look like you, but I think that if I knew more about you I can get the essence of you."

When Feary isn't painting, and besides this project, he has carried on with his other art projects. He lives in Batavia and works in construction.

The idea for the project came to Feary while working on a committee at GO ART! to evaluate Ripple Grant applications. He said he found some of the ideas in the applications pretty mediocre and he thought he could do better and one day he told Heather Grant, staff at GO ART!, that maybe he should paint portraits of residents at the nursing home.

Then he kind of forgot about the idea until one day Heather Grant called him and asked if he wanted to apply for a Ripple Grant himself to paint those portraits. He hesitated.

"I thought, 'am I ready for this?' Is this something I can really actually go do?' "

Then he said yes and asked about the deadline.

"Tomorrow."

"I don't know how it goes with most artists but for me, I'm not the flamboyant Picasso, 'I am the greatest,' " he said. "I second guess myself all the time. So I didn't want to say yes I could do something that I didn't know if I could pull off. So I said, 'Well, OK, yeah, I'll apply.' "

When Feary started on the project, staff directed him to the memory unit.

"I came in a couple of times without even thinking about painting," Feary said. "(I came in) just to get to know some people. I remember coming in and Cindy -- I don't remember her last name -- was the aide there. This woman had a heart of gold. You could see a great patience in her. There is a lot to learn just from watching her and the residents. They all seemed pretty happy. I mean, they really seemed happy.

"I would go in one day and play crazy (eights) with them," he continued. "That was the big game that we played and then maybe have a snack. They would figure out who I was going to paint and then I would come in the next day and they would be a huge table playing crazy eights and I would be in the next room over and somebody was in a chair while I painted."

When he started meeting with residents of the nursing home, some at first were eager to get their portrait painted. Some changed their minds when it came right down to it. And some were wary of the whole idea altogether.

"It's amazing that some of them were, you know, afraid, or apprehensive at least, to have this done for whatever the reasons are," Feary said.

The project got interrupted when Feary had to take a break for medical reasons. When he got back, the first portrait he did wasn't of the person he was scheduled to paint because she changed her mind.

So, Feary just hung out for awhile and as he sat next to one of the residents, Cindy came up and asked her if she would like her portrait painted.

"She goes, 'how much is it going to cost?' " Feary recalled. Cindy told her it is free. "You don't have to pay anything," so the woman replys, "Can we start right now?"

Feary thought, "Great, I've already blown an hour."

After working on the portrait until it was nearly finished, it was time for him to leave, so he showed it to this woman.

Her disappointment was obvious.

"Well I'm just scornful," she said.

"I felt so bad," Feary said. "That's not why I'm here. I thought to myself, 'that's not what this is about. I can't let that happen again."

After that, Feary would only do a preliminary painting, just one color, while in the home, and then he would take a photo back to his studio and finish the portrait there.

Feary is an experienced, accomplished, award-winning artist, but that doesn't mean there still aren't things to learn and the nursing home project proved also to be a great learning experience. For those who view the portraits in the order he painted them, the progress in how he handled light is apparent.

That is one of the reasons Feary took on the project, to make and see that kind of progress.

Above, he's holding one of the final paintings, of Agnes, and nearly everybody picks it out as their favorite of the collection.

"The thing with her is I could see she was genuinely kind and she just had, you could just feel, the happiness about her," Feary said.

The idea for the project, as Feary said, popped into his head while judging Ripple Grants. That process could have sparked a lot of ideas, so when asked why portraits and the nursing home, Feary said, I don't know where it came from. I don't have a good answer for that."

He said he just thought it would be good for the residents of the nursing home.

"I know that a lot of these people don't get visitors," Feary said. "So I thought that I want to bring a little joy or happiness to these people. That was kind of the idea for the project. Then, also, for them to have a keepsake or the family to have a keepsake."

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Photos by Howard Owens except for bottom photo, which was submitted by Premier Genesee.

Easter Bunny visits Premier Genesee Center during Job Fair there Saturday

By Billie Owens

Submitted photos. Information provided by Premier Genesee Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation.

The folks at Premier Genesee Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation got a jump-start on Easter and invited a Big Bunny in a snappy vest over on Saturday (March 24).

A Community Easter Egg Hunt was held on the front lawn for children 12 and under at the nursing facility, located at 278 Bank St. in Batavia.

The event ran in conjunction with a Job Fair (which produced a good turnout and resulted in the hiring of five new employees).

Also, inside the nursing facility were many activities for children including basket raffles, face painting, crafts, cotton candy, cookies and other refreshments, and as noted, a visit from the Easter Bunny.

There were also raffle tickets for sale for two bicycles that were awarded.

Promotions announced at Premier Genesee Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation

By Billie Owens
Press release:

Premier Genesee Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation is pleased to announce that Kristina Ferrando, RN, has been promoted to the role of Director of Nursing for the facility.

Ferrando received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from SUNY Brockport and has been a registered professional nurse since 2003. She was previously employed by the Genesee County Department of Mental Health before coming to Premier Genesee in 2015. She brings a wealth of experience to her role.\

Assisting Ferrando in the role of Assistant Director of Nursing will be Jacquelyn Siverling, RN. She recently joined Premier Genesee as a Nursing Unit Manager. Siverling received her nursing education at Genesee Community College and also worked for the Genesee County Department of Mental Health before coming to Premier Genesee.

Premier Genesee names new staff, announces plans to expand services in 2018

By Billie Owens

Press release:

Premier Genesee (the former Genesee County Nursing Home) has named a new administrator, Christine Schaller, and a new Director of Nursing, Mihael Toole, RN.

Schaller, who served at the administrator of the home between 2012-16, lives in Batavia.

Toole, who most recently served as director of Quality Assurance for Avanti, resides in Hamburg.

The new management team plans a series of new services and community events in 2018 to serve the care needs of seniors in Batavia and our Western New York neighbors.

There are plans to offer Respiratory Therapy Services and expended in-patient and out-patient therapy programs.

Adult Day Health Services will continue to be offered as well as skilled nursing and long-term care.

Premier Genesee welcomes the opportunity to be a part of the fabric of Batavia.

Photos: Game day at Premier

By Howard B. Owens

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This afternoon Premier Genesee Center for Nursing and Rehab hosted a Community Game Day, giving residents a chance to play games with vistors, staff, and each other.

Above, Winnie Cook plays Trouble with staff member Rachel Flint, and below Randy and Mary play checkers.

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Premier Genesee celebrates 100th birthdays of two residents

By Howard B. Owens

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Premier Genesee Nursing Home held a birthday party today for two residents who turned 100 years old in October.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley was on hand for the birthday party for Mary Meleca, born Oct. 22, 1917, in Batavia, and Eleanore Bialkowski, born Oct. 1, 1917, in Poland.

Meleca grew up in Batavia, met her husband, Frank, on Main Street, where he was a local barber. He died young and she never remarried and they didn't have any kids. "No luck," she said. She likes sitting outside to enjoy the day as well as bingo and music. Her past hobby was cooking for her husband.

Bialkowski moved to the United States with her family when she was a child. She married Robert Bialkowski and they had two children, a son and a daughter. She's been married twice and widowed twice. She was raised Catholic and the church is still an important part of her daily life. 

After all the well wishes and a chorus of "Happy Birthday" led by Hawley, birthday cake was served.

Beggar’s Night at Premier Genesee

By Lisa Ace

Beggar’s Night at Premier Genesee

Friday Oct. 27 2017

Premier Genesee • 278 Bank St, Batavia, NY 14020

(585) 344-0584

Residents will be passing out candy throughout the facility starting at 7pm until all the candy is gone!

Please come in with your kids, pets & friends.

Event Date and Time
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