N.Y. Hospital to Expand ER with $8M Grant
The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y.
Nov. 22—CITY OF NEWBURGH—St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital will expand its Emergency Department with an $8 million grant from the state Health Department.
Hospital officials announced they had been awarded the grant during a Tuesday news conference at the Newburgh campus.
They also thanked state Sen. Bill Larkin, who, they said, was instrumental in obtaining the money.
Joan Cusack-McGuirk, president and CEO of the hospital, said construction is expected to begin sometime in the spring of 2018 and take about 18 months to complete.
The hospital centralized all its emergency services in Newburgh in January, after closing the Emergency Department at its Cornwall campus. St. Luke's said the Cornwall emergency room usually saw less than two patients per hour in recent years.
The Newburgh emergency room sometimes gets pushed to its limits, as it did Monday when 250 patients were treated there, including more than 125 from the fire and explosions at the Verla International cosmetics factory in New Windsor.
Among the changes Cusack-McGuirk outlined were expansions of the triage and fast-tracking systems in the emergency room, which will improve patient flow and efficiency. They'll also expand the ambulance bay.
A second story will be added on the section of the hospital that houses the Emergency Department. A 10-bed observation room will be built there, for patients who are not going to be admitted to the hospital but need to remain there for as long as 14 hours.
The hospital also will build its own magnetic resonance imaging center. The hospital currently uses Hudson Valley Imaging in New Windsor for such services. Cusack-McGuirk said having its own MRI will mean patients won't have to be transferred.
State Assemblyman Frank Skartados said the grant will help cement the hospital's role as "the anchor of the City of Newburgh."
Larkin acknowledged the thanks but said this day was not about him, it was about helping the community.
"This is what we were put on Earth to do, help somebody else," Larkin said.
