I”™ll take Manhattan, the Bronx and … Poughkeepsie?
The tide is turning for the region”™s hospitals, which are actively working to stem the out migration of people going to New York City and Albany for health care.
Vassar Brothers Medical Center in the city of Poughkeepsie is working to surpass the Joneses by offering quality care and expert surgery in its own backyard.
“I”™m really proud of the accomplishments we”™ve made,” said David Ping, vice president of development for Health Quest, VBMC”™s parent company, speaking about the hospital”™s latest plans to expand.
“Our cardiac center alone has received several prestigious national awards,” including a ranking as one of the top 5 percent of hospitals in the United States.”
The hospital is now preparing to expand its services and build a 78,000-square-foot facility to house an ambulatory surgery center, medical offices and provide a multilevel garage for its nearly 3,000 full- and part-time employees. The site for the new building is the hospital”™s current parking lot, which is already maxed out.
“Having ambulatory surgery in the new building is going to free up space in the hospital on the third floor where it is currently located,” said Ping. “It will be easier for patients and make it more convenient for them rather than navigating the hospital, as they do now. Once the new building is completed, we plan to expand pediatric services and will free up space for tertiary care.”
The proposed garage will take the burden off local streets and eliminate the need for off-site parking and busing of employees to VBMC, said Ping. “Right now, visitors are using Westage”™s parking garage and looking for on-street parking. With our own multilevel parking garage for both staff and visitors, it will alleviate the parking congestion in and around the campus. It will certainly make us a better neighbor to the homes around the hospital.”
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The $61.5 million project”™s certificate of need was submitted in January to the state Department of Health, said Ping. He hopes to receive approval by this summer and for construction to begin by fall. If all goes smoothly, the project should take approximately 18 months and be ready to open by early 2012.
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The expansion has already received a healthy infusion of financial support from the Dyson Foundation to the tune of nearly 10 per cent ”“ $6 million ”“ for the proposed expansion. “Dyson has already done so much for our region”™s hospitals,” said Ping. “The Hudson Valley would be much poorer without its support, not just in health care, but so many other areas.” (The foundation, among other efforts, also footed the bill for the initial structural inspection that led to Walkway Over the Hudson.)
In another development, Health Quest”™s senior staff, as well as many of its administrative offices, will move to Taconic Crossings in LaGrange, where it has leased out 27,500 square feet of space and plans to relocate approximately 300 employees from various locations, including from its medical offices in Fishkill. “That will give us the opportunity to offer more health services at that satellite location,” said Ping.
Taconic Crossings is owned by Page Park Associates, based in Pleasant Valley, which purchased the former Poughkeepsie Journal building in the downtown area in 2009. Health Quest will have the opportunity to lease more space when the need arises, according to Page Park”™s prepared statement.
“For us, it”™s a great location to access all three of the hospitals under Health Quest”™s wing,” said Ping. “It is approximately 30-35 minutes from Vassar Brothers, Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck and Putnam Community Hospital in Carmel. That”™s what made the location so attractive.”
As of now, there is only a preliminary rendering of what the new surgical/office building on the VBMC campus will look like. “Once we have our certificate of need, we will have an architect and choose a general contractor,” said Ping. “We are hoping whoever we choose will use as much local labor as possible.” Health Quest plans to move to its new administrative offices by March 19.
Many hospitals in the region are affiliating with New York City hospitals, but Vassar Brothers has not made that move. “Many of our staff have come from New York City hospitals. At Northern Dutchess, our orthopedic care is second only to the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. The tide is stating to turn…local residents seeking health care are beginning to realize the vast array of quality services right here. There”™s no reason to leave the Hudson Valley for care””we have the physicians and hospitals right here that can deliver the same or better level of service as hospitals outside the area,” said Ping.
