The Vilas Home is an elder care facility in Plattsburgh. An open house was held recently to showcase an expansion that includes new memory care units and an expanded assisted living residence area.
A harpist is playing in the foyer as people enter the Vilas Home to see just what has changed at one of the largest assisted living facilities in Plattsburgh. Construction was accomplished in two phases as the brick-faced original building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was renovated and an expansion built to create a 90,000-square-foot facility. The original building had 42 rooms accommodating 44 residents. There are now 109 rooms for up to 136 residents.
Vilas Home Administrator Jamie Mcauliffe says they incorporated the original structure and kept its family ambiance.
“We were originally a very small adult home with very limited services and small rooms and minimal amenities as well. Now we have an enhanced skilled nursing license and now we have a special needs license which is our locked memory unit. People often refer to it as memory care, dementia unit.”
Vilas Home owner Eli Schwartzberg his wife also own and operate the Champlain Valley Senior Community in Willsboro, about a half hour from Plattsburgh. He says there are very few assisted living facilities in the region.
“There’s one other assisted living on Plattsburgh. We have one in Willsboro. There’s very few assisted living and that’s sort of the problem. The issue with having such few beds of assisted living is that people end up going right to the nursing home but they don’t need to be there.”
Leaving the lobby area leads to one of the lounge and activity spaces. Dietary Director Allan Miller meets tour visitors at the ice cream parlor adjacent to a lounge and the expansive dining room.
“Do you want an ice cream? This is a first floor living room. It’s one of the more popular living rooms because it’s so close to the dining room. On over here is the dining room. Folks come down every single day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
Case Manager Jamie Mitchell meets guests next to a lounge, where a performer is entertaining the residents.
“You guys want to come see a room with me? Okay.”
The group heads down a hallway to see one of the assisted living rooms.
“This is what our normal suite looks like. We do provide the dresser, the bed, nightstand, the tv. But the rest is all Betty’s stuff she brought from home.”
The room we just viewed is Betty O’Brian’s. We encountered her as she returned from helping bake cookies in an activity room.
“There’s plenty of activities. And if you need help, you can get any help you want. I feel at home here.”
Pat Bradley asks her, “Do you miss your previous lifestyle?”
“ In a way I do,” O’Brien says. “But my house wasn’t equipped for being handicapped. The bathroom wasn’t equipped. So this is perfect. I love it.”
A quick stop upstairs to see that the memory care unit rooms are similar, but do not include a kitchenette.
Back downstairs, Clinton County Office for the Aging Director Darlene Collins was impressed with what she saw.
“There’s never enough housing, no matter what kind it is. So it’s nice that there’s memory care available. What they’re adding on now is another level of care.”
Dan Collings has lived at the Vilas home since early November 2025.
“It’s a godsend. I was losing it at the house. I was alone. My son come up from Florida and said we’re going looking. So I came in here and I said right off the bat I think this is where I want to stay.”
Data from the Woods and Poole 2025 State Profile utilized by the New York State Office for the Aging shows there are more than 5 million residents in the state over 60. It is projected that will increase to 5.2 million in the next five years with New Yorkers over the age of 85 are expected to increase to nearly 550,000
According to data from the state Health Department nearly 110,000 residents live in New York State nursing homes and nearly 48,000 in New York State adult care facilities