Health Quest is making its largest investment to date of the three hospitals under its wing with the new cancer-care addition at Putnam Hospital Center.
Construction of the five-story addition to the Carmel hospital will cost $34 million. It is set to open in June.
“We are making this investment because there is nowhere for Putnam residents to go for cancer treatment unless they are willing to travel,” said Michael Weber, CEO of Health Quest in Poughkeepsie.
“Learning that you or a loved one has been diagnosed with cancer is hard enough to deal with. It is devastating to get the news you are going to deal with a serious disease…. imagine trying to figure out where you will go to be treated and how you or your family will be able to handle it.”
Health Quest has expanded its emergency rooms in all three of its hospitals; in addition to Putnam Hospital Center, it also has Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie and Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck.
The healthcare organization has infused nearly $80 million in capital projects in its three hospitals and affiliated businesses, including Thompson House in Rhinebeck and Alamo Ambulance Service, but the cancer center for Putnam is the largest project it has undertaken to date, Weber said.
“Not only do we have to keep up with the latest technology ”“ that means making room for the latest diagnostic equipment ”“ we also are mandated to serve anyone who comes through the door,” Weber said. “Many people who come to the emergency room don”™t need to be there. They can go to their primary care physician for some of their ailments … but we cannot refuse anyone. The growing number of uninsured also contributes to the need to make our emergency rooms bigger and more accessible. I don”™t know what the answer to the problem is … whether it is universal health care or some other alternative.”
Putnam Hospital Center”™s new wing will be dedicated solely to treating cancer patients. In addition to treatment rooms and doctors”™ offices, two floors consisting of 70 private rooms with private baths are incorporated in the design.
Private single rooms are becoming the standard, not only for patient satisfaction but as a way to cut down on the spread of disease, said hospital President Donna McGregor.
“That”™s difficult to accomplish when you have people sharing a room. It is better for the patient emotionally, as well as physically,” she said.
Pediatric rooms will be available and close to the nurses”™ station.
In addition, “We are going to offer a $3.5 million linear accelerator treatment room, a procedure many cancer patients require every day during treatment. It is hard enough to go through it dealing with the disease and therapy, but getting family members or friends to make sure you get to it every day will be that much easier knowing it is right here in our own backyard.”
A major factor in cancer survival rates is the psychological well-being of the patients, McGregor said. “If they can get care and treatment close to home, it is a burden off their shoulders. They have enough to deal with, just coming to terms with being diagnosed with cancer and treatments that lie ahead.”
Weber and McGregor said the most impressive thing about the new addition is the love and passion the community has put into it. The hospital has raised $15 million in private donations from residents and business owners.
U.S. Rep. John Hall came to the hospital on Jan. 10 to present it with a check for $191,593, which will go toward the purchase of the linear accelerator. Noting his mother is a cancer survivor, Hall said, “It is that much easier for families to be able to help the patient if they can get treatment nearby.” For a county that Hall described as the “second fastest-growing county in New York, it also has the fourth highest cancer death rate.”
Hall said the federal funding was part of the recently passed appropriations bill. “We don”™t call it ”˜pork”™ anymore ”“ they are called ”˜legislative directed initiatives”™ ”“ but it is not ”˜pork”™ in the sense that goes directly to help people who live in this community. Congress has a duty to help hospitals obtain federal help for projects such as this.”
He was joined by Daniel S. Ryan, president and CEO of Putnam County Savings Bank, who presented a check for $50,000, part of the bank”™s $250,000 commitment. The next day, state Sen. Vincent Leibell sweetened the growing pot by adding another $500,000 grant.
The new center will be named the Camarda Care Center for builder Paul Camarda, a hospital board member who made a personal donation of $500,000 toward the addition.
The addition will include a 100-seat auditorium. “We hope the community will put it to good use, and we”™ll be able to offer programs as well,” said McGregor. Perhaps one of them will be to encourage citizens to take personal responsibility for their physical well-being. “We can only hope they will realize it is up to them to live healthier lives,” Weber said.
Another bit of good news came from Hall”™s office: Putnam Hospital Center will receive the same Medicare reimbursement rates as its New York City counterparts, saving the hospital at least $6 million a year in revenue.
“This was extremely important to us,” Weber said. “It is just as expensive to live in the Hudson Valley, based on the incomes and cost of living, as it is farther south. The reimbursement rate is retroactive to October 2007, and we were given a one-year extension on our MSA (metropolitan statistical area) designation.”
