While construction workers continued putting the finishing touches on the renovated building at 79 E. Post Road in White Plains, officials of White Plains Hospital and St. Vincent’s Hospital welcomed guests to a May 23 ceremony unveiling their new facility where preventive, primary and behavioral health care services will be offered under one roof.
The building was bought by White Plains Hospital in 2016 for $5.5 million, according to county property records. It had been developed as medical offices by a company affiliated with The Cappelli Organization.
The renovation work has included replacing the building’s exterior and outfitting the 18,000-square-foot interior to serve the needs of the new health center. The hospital’s family health center was operating at 41 E. Post Road and patients having behavioral health issues were referred to outside sources. The new facility incorporates child-friendly waiting and treatment areas, several rooms for group therapy programs and numerous examination and consultation spaces.
Susan Fox, president and CEO of White Plains Hospital, said, “By combining the exceptional health care of White Plains Hospital with the outstanding behavioral health services offered by St. Vincent’s, we’re able to take an innovative, integrated approach to caring for the whole patient.”
Services will include: examinations and physicals; internal medicine; gynecology; laboratory tests; podiatry; nutrition counseling; and treatments for multiple sclerosis, mental health treatment, chemical dependency and anxiety and phobia disorders.
Among the personnel from White Plains Hospital working at the building will be internal medicine and family practice physicians, pediatricians, nurses and nurse practitioners. St. Vincent’s will have psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric social workers, certified alcohol and drug abuse counselors and other staff members at the facility.
White Plains Mayor Tom Roach said, “This is going to make a huge difference in outcomes for people because early intervention is so important in so many areas.”
Roach expressed optimism that the facility will make it easier for people to seek care for mental health issues. “There is a social stigma about people getting treatment for problems that destroy their lives and it really thrills me to have this in our city so close to where people are getting care for their physical needs, which will increase the likelihood that people will take advantage of the great care that’s at White Plains Hospital.”
Michael Palumbo, executive vice president and chief medical officer of White Plains Hospital, said that having primary care and behavioral professionals under the same roof will increase communication between the two groups of providers.
“It ultimately will reduce costs for patients and we believe it is going to improve the quality of care,” he said. “By bringing together primary and preventive care with behavioral health we are going to create better outcomes for our patients. In this new space, a particular patient on the same day can be treated for physical illnesses, whether it”™s high blood pressure (or) diabetes as well as behavioral health issues.”
