Bringing The Best in Rehab Facilities to Our Community

Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab (MJHR) has been dedicated to caring for the needs of seniors for the last 91 years. Its mission, to provide the highest level of care possible with dignity, compassion and professionalism, has always compelled the leadership to keep up with the changing needs of seniors in our community. In order to do that, MJHR is expanding its current facility.

The current rehab spaces, which were originally designed for adult and children’s day care, were renovated in 2008 to meet the demands of an increasing number of seniors needing rehab services. Having now outgrown those spaces, MJHR determined that a new state-of-the art rehab facility was needed.

Fortunately, the increase in rehab services being providing to rehab residents helps fund the shortfalls in the cost to care for long-term residents. While the Medicaid program reimburses most long-term residents’ cost of care; unfortunately, it covers less than two-thirds of the actual cost of resident care. In addition to the extra rehab income, MJHR receives support from Memphis Jewish Federation, United Way, foundations, and many individual donors.

Ground was broken on the 24,000-square-foot addition on February 14, 2018, with construction completions expected by April 2019.

Approximately half of the new space will house a much-larger therapy gym with a walking track, aquatic therapy pool and changing areas, private treatment areas, a non-working car for car transfer training, and an activities of daily living (ADL) suite. The ADL suite is like a fully functioning mini apartment where a patient can practice what it will be like at home before actually discharging from MJHR. A second beauty salon will be located in the new addition.

The other half of the addition will house a patient wing with 16 new private rehab rooms each with a roll-in shower. This will enable the Home to convert all rehab rooms into private rooms keeping the bed total at 160. Also included in the patient wing will be a TV/Internet Lounge and a Family Lounge.

Back Exterior View

Two new outdoor spaces will include a Therapy Garden with outdoor therapy equipment and a Fountain Garden area for relaxation. Fleming Architects has designed the space and Linkous Construction is the contractor.

A dedicated group of volunteers was chosen to lead a $7.5M capital campaign to fund the construction of the expansion. Pace Cooper, Jay Lindy and Scott Notowich, co-chairs of the Renewing Strength, Restoring Confidence Capital Campaign, have been hard at work along with members of the campaign committee. They have already raised over half of the needed funds for the expansion including 100% board pledges and a $1M grant from the Plough Foundation.

Honorary chairs for the campaign are Maurice Buring, Mark Halperin, Nat Landau, Judy Moss, Judy Royal and Steve Wishnia. Gifts can be pledged over five years, and there are a number of naming opportunities still available. A virtual tour of the expansion can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/yaatglxt. Photos of the construction progress can be viewed on the Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab’s Facebook page.

It was in the early 1990s that the Home last approached the community to raise significant dollars for a capital project. Then, hundreds came together to support the building of the Cordova facility so that the Home could move from its outdated facility in Midtown on Tucker St. Since that time, the needs of seniors have greatly evolved. MJHR staff and board leadership felt it was time to make improvements to the current facility to keep up with the changing needs of seniors in our community.

For 91 years, the Home has been committed to enhancing the lives of seniors in a warm, supportive and Jewish environment. That same commitment continues even though today’s seniors require much more care than they did in 1927. The hope is that even if you or a family member has not personally needed services provided by the Home that you see the importance of having a facility like MJHR in the community for those who do. As a Jewish community, we should take pride in the high-quality care MJHR provides not only for our own parents and grandparents but also for seniors in our broader Mid-South community.