Three years after Sandy made its mark, the Komanoff nursing home is fully operational

The Komanoff nursing home in Long Beach has reopened its rehabilitation areas, three years after the facility was flooded and heavily damaged by superstorm Sandy.

The Komanoff Center for Geriatric and Rehabilitative Medicine held its grand reopening last week to showcase new facilities that have been upgraded and expanded since the 2012 storm wreaked havoc across Long Beach.

Superstorm Sandy resulted in extensive damage and flooding to the roof and first two floors of the nursing home, which overlooks Reynolds Channel next to the shuttered Long Beach Medical Center.

Patients who had been evacuated to other facilities after the storm started to return to Komanoff about four months after Sandy, and its residential services were fully operational within six to eight months. Among a great deal of damage, the storm destroyed the first-floor kitchen area as well as electrical generators.

While simultaneously navigating bankruptcy as well as extensive renovations, Komanoff is now a 150-bed facility. Before Sandy, it was a 200-bed facility.

It is also now a nonprofit owned by Rockaways nursing-home owner Michael Melnicke. He outbid South Nassau Communities Hospital to purchase the nursing home for $17 million. It is aided by South Nassau's adjacent urgent care center and its emergency room, which accepts ambulances and 911 calls. South Nassau and Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre are the primary referrals for patients to Komanoff from Long Beach, officials said.

The renovated nursing home has added a physical therapy wing on the first floor and a short-term inpatient facility, with one or two bedrooms, on the second floor for patients recovering from knee and hip surgery. Komanoff officials did not provide an estimated expense of upgrades and renovations.

SEE PHOTOSSandy's destruction

"Our goal was to get people back to full strength and out into the community," assistant administrator Joe Carillo said.

Residents displaced in the aftermath of the storm were relocated with relatives throughout the state. Many didn't come back, in part because so many Long Beach residents' homes were lost.

The new facility is hoping to be more of a fixture connected to the city, Komanoff administrator Keith Powers said. He said the reduced number of beds would create a better ratio of nurses to patients resulting in more attentive care.

"We're trying to come back with a state-of-the-art facility and provide better service to the community," Powers said.

SEE PHOTOSAerial views of Sandy damage

Laura Michalak, 73, has been a resident at Komanoff for about five months after transferring from a facility in Amityville. She said she needed more advanced care and transferred to Komanoff after being hospitalized for neuropathy and a blood infection.

"I know it's far from home, but I just fell in love with the place. This is the best therapy I've ever had," Michalak said. "At the other nursing homes, all I did was cry. It was a big hassle. When I came here, I had no problems whatsoever. I don't lay in bed and cry anymore. You don't realize how lucky you are."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.