Strong West Ribbon-Cutting Celebrates First Year of Services

UR Medicine’s Strong West celebrated nearly one year of care on Friday and offered the community a glimpse of newly renovated space, including a new entrance and lobby/check-in area, a same-day surgery center and the soon-to-be-approved off-campus Emergency Department.

A ribbon-cutting was held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the campus, 156 West Ave., Brockport, followed by tours. A community open house hosted by Strong West staff was held from 4 to 6 p.m., featuring tours, family-friendly activities, refreshments and giveaways.

The New York State Department of Health is expected to grant final approval soon for the off-campus Emergency Department (ED), making it the first such model in Upstate New York. The opening of the new Strong West Emergency will mean a return of higher-level, 24-hour emergency care to the Brockport area, which has been lacking since Lakeside Memorial Hospital closed in the spring of 2013.

“We are committed to fulfilling our promise to Brockport and the surrounding area to re-establish lifesaving emergency services in a community that has been without that local safety net for more than 12 months,” said Bradford C. Berk, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of UR Medicine.

UR Medicine’s Strong Memorial Hospital has worked closely with the state DOH since last summer, submitting plans to develop the off-campus ED. This unique health care model has been adopted by other institutions across New York, prompting the state to carefully develop specialized requirements and policies.

Off-campus EDs are designed to offer acute emergency care for patients and are open around-the-clock, seven days a week. Unlike urgent care centers, these EDs care for patients brought in by ambulance (urgent care sites, by law, cannot) and are staffed by a physician 24 hours a day.

Opening an ED at Strong West will mean that, for the first time in more than a year, patients with more serious conditions can receive the medical treatment they need, right in Brockport.

“We are eager to put into action the plan we’ve been developing since committing to our Brockport-area neighbors,” said UR Medicine emergency physician Michael Kamali, M.D., Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. “Strong West’s No. 1 goal was to bring back these needed services that are so vital to any community.”

Because off-campus EDs have no in-patient hospital beds – Strong West will have three short-term observation beds in the ED – and patients who need more intensive care and hospitalization will be stabilized and transferred to UR Medicine’s Strong Memorial or Highland Hospital or a hospital the patient chooses.

To prepare the facility to switch over to an ED, enhancements to Strong West included adding an isolation treatment room, an observation suite, enhanced lab capabilities, a pharmacy component, and other alterations to accommodate a variety of patient needs.

Strong West Urgent Care remains open, with staff – including an Emergency Medicine physician – on site 24 hours a day.

After Lakeside Memorial’s closure early last year, the University of Rochester Medical Center purchased many of Lakeside’s assets with the intention of opening an off-campus ED. Strong West Urgent Care opened in September, along with Imaging and a Lab Draw Station.

Currently, Strong West offers Urgent Care in both Brockport and Spencerport, Imaging, Labs, Primary Care, Orthopaedics, Cardiology, Oncology and Hematology, Neurosurgery, and Urology services.

A new Ambulatory Surgical Center, to be located in space that formerly housed Lakeside’s birthing center, is expected to open later this month. It will include 15 beds, three operating rooms and two procedure rooms. Same-day surgeries – Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology, General Surgery, Urology and others – will be performed by specialists from UR Medicine and community physicians.

Occupational Medicine services will be offered this month, as well. These services were provided to local businesses prior to Lakeside’s closure.

Additional renovations at Strong West include:

• New main entrance, with interior changes and an external facelift, is complete;
• Updated community conference rooms;
• Renovation of the former child care center on the campus, which will be completed by the end of the year, will allow Orthopaedics’ Sports Medicine and Spine specialists to provide care;
• Imaging will be upgrading its services to include new CT technology and a brand new MRI suite.