By: Carol Sutledge
Officials at Montefiore Health System have said they will shutter its Mount Vernon Hospital. They also plan to invest $41 million in building an emergency department and ambulatory care center.
After the 40,000-square-foot health care complex on Sanford Boulevard has been finished, the 121-bed hospital will be shut down, the company said. Construction is set to be finished by the end of 2020.
Approval from the New York State Department of Health for the project is needed.
The officials said that the hospital will be replaced by the emergency department and medical offices for primary and specialty care. Those in need of a room in the hospital will be sent to other facilities.
“Our new site puts patients first, reflects best practices in health care and ensures Mount Vernon residents have high-quality care for years to come,” Montefiore Chief Strategy Officer Lynn Richmond said in an official statement.
“Through a spokesman, Montefiore officials declined to be interviewed. The spokesman could not immediately comment on the status of the hospital’s employees, some of whom are represented by the New York State Nurses Association and 1199SEIU,” reported Crain’s New York Business. “Montefiore Health System, which has its flagship hospital in the Bronx, has expanded aggressively in the Hudson Valley. It has taken over management of hospitals in Cornwall, New Rochelle, Nyack, Newburgh, and White Plains. It is negotiating to add St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers.”
“I am particularly concerned about how our residents will receive tertiary and secondary care requiring hospital admissions, considering the Health Needs Assessments filed two years ago with the NYS Department of Health,” Westchester County Legislator Lyndon Williams said in a Facebook post. “I have met with representatives of Montefiore to express my concerns, and learned that the time frame for their implementation plan is 14 months.
“I have also reached out to our state elected officials to coordinate efforts on behalf of [Mount Vernon] residents,” Williams continued. “Montefiore employs 510 people at the hospital. The health care provider has yet to detail the future of its employees at the hospital.”
Democratic Mayoral candidate Shawyn Patterson-Howard “said Montefiore is willing to invest over $60 million in total costs for the new facility on East Sandford Boulevard. Patterson-Howard said she has engaged Montefiore on the future of Mount Vernon Hospital,” lohud.com reported. “Our goal is to bring the most forward-thinking, modern medicine to Mount Vernon and the surrounding region and to provide the highest quality care when and where people in this community need it most,” Montefiore Health System’s Lynn Richmond said. “Our new site puts patients first, reflects best practices in health care and ensures Mount Vernon residents have high-quality care for years to come.”
