This presentation examines uneven access to overnight respite care in Western NY through the lenses of geography, workforce, and system design. Using regional data, travel-time analysis, and workforce modeling, it reframes respite scarcity as a network problem rather than a site-level issue. The session explores how strategic siting, cross-county collaboration, and community college partnerships can transform a partially built system into a coherent regional infrastructure—improving equity, sustainability, and family trust while strengthening workforce pipelines critical to long-term community health.
