Lake Katrine – The executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition in Manhattan said he is opposed to a proposal to grant the Northeast Center for Recovery in Lake Katrine permission to care for brain injured soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Northeast Center wants to establish a 20-bed facility for those patients. However, Richard Mollot of the Long Term Care Community Coalition told MidHudsonNews.com that his agency opposes the idea because of what he called the “on-again, off-again deficiencies” of Northeast. He cited a recent report from the federal government.

“They failed to properly care for residents needing special services including injections, colostomy, urostomy, ileostomy, tracheotomy, tracheal suctioning, respiratory care, foot care, prosthesis,” he said. “People with traumatic brain injury obviously need a lot of those special services. So, when I think about this facility, or a facility, that provides care people with traumatic brain injury or who is proposing to care for our returning soldiers who are injured, that is a special concern to me.”

US Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Maurice Hinchey have endorsed the Northeast Center’s proposal and members of the Ulster County Legislature have also backed the plan.

Meanwhile, The Northeast Center recently issued a news release stating that Thomas Harvie, ventilator care program director, had been awarded the President’s Recognition Award from the Northeast Chapter of the New York State Society of Respiratory Care.