Second annual free community holiday party planned
Construction crews are busy transforming the third floor at Strong West in Brockport. The space – which was once a 30-bed inpatient unit for the former Lakeside Memorial Hospital – is being renovated to accommodate new clinical program space.
Bryan O’Donovan, director of UR Medicine’s Strong West, says the 11,000 square feet space will become home to one of UR Medicine Heart and Vascular’s cardiology practices and will also house a separate multi-speciality suite where patients will be cared for by experts from the departments of Gastroenterology, Urology and Sleep Medicine.
O’Donovan calls the transformation a significant “expansion” of the Strong West facility. “Work started in late August and will take about five months. It is quite involved, we expect a mid-January opening,” he says.
The cardiology practice is moving from 80 West Avenue in Brockport. The Gastroenterology, Urology and Sleep Medicine departments are moving from Strong West’s adjacent Physician Office Building.
“It will be a more modern and much larger facility,” than the current locations, O’Donovan says.
The new space will also enable the addition of many more programs including the Strong Wound Healing Center, Neurosurgery and potentially Plastic Surgery.
“We are excited to revitalize the Strong West campus and continue to add more health care services for the community, close to home,” O’Donovan says.
He explains that the Strong Wound Healing Center will provide specialized treatment for chronic or non-healing wounds – defined as sores or wounds which have not significantly improved from conventional treatments. State-of-the-art treatments available include debridement, dressing selection, special shoes and patient education.
Since opening its doors at the former Lakeside Memorial Hospital campus on West Avenue in 2013, Strong West has grown quickly, O’Donovan adds.
What started with three programs and a handful of outpatients in 2013 has grown to 12 programs with, “100,000 patient visits between July 2015 and June 2016,” he says. “All programs are busy, that is the biggest compliment.”
Those numbers far exceed projections made in 2013, UR Medicine officials say. The Strong West footprint has grown from 15,000 square feet of dedicated patient space to 85,000 square feet and from 30 employees to more than 150 with a large percentage of them former Lakeside staffers.
Care is currently offered by the Ambulatory Surgery Center staff, Imaging, Labs, the Wilmot Cancer Institute, Orthopaedics, Occupational Medicine and Primary Care. The off-site Emergency Room is a first-of-its-kind and created a new model for care in New York State, O’Donovan says.
Most patients come from the Brockport/Clarkson/Hamlin community, O’Donovan says, but quarterly reports show that for some services, Albion in Orleans County, is ranked second in number of patients. Patients also come from locations such as Holley in Orleans County and LeRoy in Genesee County, he says.
“We have established ourselves as the health care provider for the community,” O’Donovan says. “It’s a wonderful feeling.”
Free Community Holiday Party with Santa at Seymour Library
For a second year, Seymour Library and Strong West are partnering to host a free community holiday party at the library, 161 East Avenue in Brockport, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, December 10.
UR Medicine’s Karin Gaffney Christensen says holiday treats, cookie decorating, take-home crafts for kids, and story times are part of the festivities planned. Santa will make an appearance and a collection box will be available for those attending who would like to donate a food or toy item to benefit the Brockport Ecumenical Food Shelf or Brockport Toy Shelf.
