Castelli Marks 10th Anniversary of New York State Veterans Home in Montrose

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The New York State Veterans Home at Montrose, located on the pastoral setting of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Campus of the federal Hudson Valley VA System at Montrose, celebrated its 10th birthday yesterday.

Assemblyman Robert J. Castelli (R, C-Goldens Bridge), a Vietnam veteran and ranking member of the Assembly’s Veterans Affairs Committee, paid tribute to the New York State Veterans Home at Montrose, which was the fifth and final New York State Veterans’ Home.

“New York State’s veteran population is the second largest in the nation, and it is important that we protect its critical services and ensure care for these national heroes,” Castelli said.

“In my opinion, the New York State Veteran’s Home at Montrose is one of the best eldercare facilities in this state. Although we can never truly repay the debt we owe the occupants of this great home, who truly represent our nation's best and brightest, we can take occasions like today to once again recognize their great sacrifice, paid at so dear a cost, to protect all our freedoms.”

The facility was authorized by the Legislature in 1995 after receiving enormous support from the community, veterans groups and then-State Senator George Pataki and Congresswoman Sue Kelly. Final approval for the project came in April 1996, with construction being completed on the facility in August 2001.

The first occupant/resident was expected to come in on Sept. 11, 2011, but was postponed after the tragic events of that day, and admitted six days later. “Since that time, patient admittance has grown exponentially to a current occupancy rate of 99 percent,” Castelli said.

The facility has 252 beds in six Y-shaped residential rings, which increases privacy and makes the home more comfortable for New York’s veterans.

In addition to medical care, the New York State Veterans Home at Montrose contains a library which provides veterans with reading material, and a computer lab to help them stay connected with relatives while providing classes to help veterans learn computer skills.

“The home for our heroes that is the NYS Veterans Home at Montrose uniquely offers a number of veteran-specific activities, including the annual Pearl Harbor Day Celebration,” Castelli said.

“The 300-strong staff of the Veterans Home at Montrose, as well as the countless volunteers who vary from area veterans’ groups to teenage volunteers, truly make the NYS Veterans Home at Montrose a special and caring place for New York’s heroes to receive the care they need.”

Castelli was joined at the event by numerous veterans, public officials and dignitaries, including Val Gray, chief executive officer of Helen Hayes Hospital and former director of the Department of Health’s Bureau of Health Facilities Management, representing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo; Gerald Walsh, president of the NYS Veterans Home at Montrose Board of Visitors; Gerald Culliton, director of the Hudson Valley VA Health Care System; Senator Greg Ball (R, C–Patterson); Assemblywoman Sandra Galef (D–Ossining); Westchester County Legislator John Testa; Cortlandt Supervisor Linda Puglisi; Peekskill Mayor Mary Foster; and Yorktown Councilman Vishnu Patel.

During this year’s state budget process, along with Senator Ball, Castelli led a coalition of 27 lawmakers in the Assembly who successfully lobbied against a 10 percent across-the-board cut to the State Veterans’ Homes, which included a $2.3 million cut to the NYS Veterans’ Home at Montrose. When the money was restored, Castelli said simply that “we owe the greatest generation a debt of gratitude that is not repayable in this lifetime.”