By Jill Nagy
Southern Adirondack Independent Living (SAIL), which originated in Glens Falls and has a Queensbury office, has relocated its Saratoga County office to the Wilton Mall.
The new Wilton location replaces offices in Ballston Spa where the organization was located for 15 years. The agency also has offices in Saratoga, Queensbury and Plattsburgh.
“People with disabilities are figuring out their next step,” said Tyler Whitney, deputy executive director. “A lot of people don’t know what they need when they come here.”
The organization assists with housing, arranging in-home medical and nursing services, finding appropriate health insurance, free medical equipment loans, preparing Medicare and Medicaid applications, connecting with other community services, and other services that can help people with disabilities achieve the greatest level of independence possible. Primarily a source of advice and counseling, SAIL does not provide direct services but, Whitney said, they work closely with the providers that do.
The organization serves a 15-county swathe of upstate New York. “We begin in Columbia/Greene and work our way up,” Whitney said. It is a nonprofit organization, supported by state and federal grants and donations.
Whitney said the new office is “accessible and innovative,” centrally located in the heart of Saratoga County. Availability of public transportation was a big piece of the decision to relocate to Wilton, she added. The new location provides 4,500 square feet of space. It received a “top to bottom renovation” between the time SAIL decided in mid-summer to move and their actual relocation in early October.
“The new space provides a warm environment in which our staff can continue to assist our community members on their journey toward independent living,” Whitney said. “We find that repurposing a location once used for retail is a trailblazing idea that can bring new life to shopping centers,” she added.
SAIL serves between 5,000 and 8,000 clients a year in its three offices. They have about 40 employees, five or six of them detailed to Saratoga.
Founded as Glens Falls Independent Living Center in 1988, SAIL opened offices in Saratoga in 1994 and Plattsburgh in 2013. The organization was renamed in 2007 to better reflect its commitment to providing services throughout the North Country, Glens Falls and Saratoga regions.
More information about SAIL and its services is available on their website at sailhelps.org, or by telephoning 518-792-3537.