A nursing home developer wants to build an ambitious health care center that would combine nursing care, state-of-the-art medical equipment and world-class research.

Palm Health Partners has asked the town of Jupiter for permission to put a 200,000-square-foot facility on nine acres just east of Scripps Florida's labs at Abacoa. The Institute for Aging Life Science & Research would include a 99-bed nursing home, a 70-bed assisted living facility and a 30-bed center for people with such brain disorders as Alzheimer's disease.

Patients with bed sores and other wounds would be treated in a hyperbaric chamber, and they would exercise on zero-gravity equipment, said Paul Walczak, chief executive of Jupiter-based Palm Health Partners. Those sorts of amenities typically are found only in hospitals.

Walczak also plans a clinical research center that would give scientists from Scripps Florida and Florida Atlantic University access to the facility's patients.

If town officials approve, the Institute for Aging Life Science & Research would open in 2012 and would cost more than $50 million, Walczak said. He expects the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to cover some of that investment, with the rest coming from Palm Health Partners' deep-pocketed backers.

Scripps Florida head Harry Orf spoke recently to members of the Jupiter town council about the importance of the project, and two members said Thursday that Orf's words persuaded them to support it.

"Dr. Harry Orf and other Scripps scientists were raving about the prospects of having real-life test cases right across the street," said council member Todd Wodraska.

Council member Robert Friedman said he was skeptical at first because he wasn't sure how a nursing home would fit into a research park. But Palm Health Partners assured him at least a quarter of the facility would be devoted to research.

"As long as it is, I'm supportive," Friedman said.

The company's principals are Walczak; his mother, Elizabeth Fago, who built the Home Quality Management chain of nursing homes before selling it in 2007; hotelier Willam A. Meyer; and developer Steven Tendrich.

Fago has strong ties to Scripps Florida. This month, she announced a $1 million contribution to the research lab, her second $1 million donation to the institute. A prolific backer of Republican politicians, Fago was appointed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush to the Scripps Florida Funding Corp. oversight board before questions about her history of unpaid taxes and lawsuits led her to resign in 2004.

Walczak hopes the Institute for Aging Life Science & Research can provide a new model for nursing homes, which he acknowledges have an unsavory reputation.

"As the old saying goes, there are two places we don't want to be — prison and a nursing home," Walczak said.

Despite all the high-end features, the facility's prices will be "competitive," he said. About 20 percent of the patients will be covered by Medicare and Medicaid, while the rest will pay for their stays through private insurance or from their savings.

 

By Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer