Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s new satellite Emergency Department is slated to open later this spring, in time to relieve patients and first responders of the life-threatening wait time created by having to drive up to 30 miles to the hospital in bumper-to-bumper summer traffic in the midst of a medical emergency.
The satellite emergency department, which has been in the works for nearly 10 years, is a 22,000-square-foot facility at 400 Pantigo Place, just east of East Hampton Town Hall on a town-owned site that had formerly been a Little League Field.
It was built using funds from a 2017 grant of $10 million from New York State and $30 million in donations from the community.
Pictured above, from left: Southampton Hospital Foundation President Julia McCormack; Stony Brook Medicine Executive Vice President William Wertheim, M.D.; Stony Brook Hospital CAO/COO Carol Gomes; Stony Brook University Interim President Richard L. McCormick; Southampton Hospital Association Chair James D. Forbes; and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital Chief Administrative Officer Emily Mastaler at the ribbon cutting.
Stony Brook Medicine and the Southampton Hospital Foundation and Association held a ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the project on April 5, though the emergency department is not expected to open its doors until later this spring.
At the ribbon cutting, they gave public officials, donors and the press a tour of the facility, which includes a resuscitation room, two isolation rooms for treating patients with infectious diseases, a lab and pharmacy, and advanced diagnostic equipment including MRI, CT scan, Ultrasound and X-ray technology to allow for rapid diagnosis in consultation with specialists from Stony Brook Medicine. A Stony Brook Medicine ambulance will also be stationed there for further transport if necessary.
Such diagnostic tools are crucial to determining the cause of serious medical emergencies, including strokes, before a treatment plan can be implemented.
Southampton Hospital Association Chair James D. Forbes, and his wife, Hollis Forbes, led the charge to build the satellite emergency department.
“There were a lot of skeptics in the community who said it couldn’t be done, but we came together as a community to make this happen,” said Mr. Forbes at the ribbon-cutting. “Residents of the East End always wondered what would we do, in the case of an emergency. If you lived in Montauk or Amagansett, and in May, June, July had to get to the emergency room in Southampton, the traffic was the issue. Today we have the answer.”
He added that satellite emergency rooms, which are not attached to the hospital, are rare throughout the United States.
Mr. Forbes thanked the “leadership of EMS ambulance services and first responders, who showed up at numerous town meetings to get this project approved,” and said the East Hampton Emergency Department Campaign Committee, which he also chairs, is committed to continuing to raise funds for both the facility and for the “folks who come here who will not have insurance. We have a significant percentage on the East End of Long Island who will show up with emergent conditions who need care.”
“Every single private room, every piece of equipment and every workflow Is designed to ensure the highest possible standard for care for our guests, neighbors family and friends,” said Stony Brook Southampton Chief Administrative Officer Emily Mastaler. “It also strengthens our continuum of care and improves timely access to all levels of care, which can help the health and well-being of our community. When this project broke ground, so did barriers of care, and we intend to keep that momentum going.”
State Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo pledged to build on the work supporting the Stony Brook healthcare network done by his predecessor, State Senator Ken LaValle, and State Assemblyman Fred Thiele.
He said the trip to Southampton Hospital in an emergency, from points east, “can take up to an hour, but heading back without lights and sirens can take several hours,” adding that that type of time commitment is “not appropriate for the rest of the community,” in an area served primarily by volunteer ambulance personnel.
“We need to bring this type of care and a building like this to Southampton,” he said, referring to the planned expansion of Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. “We need to create a Stony Brook Southampton that is also state of the art.”
“I can’t wipe the smile off my face,” said East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez as she toured the building, which she said she had toured several times before. “This is a game-changer for our community.”
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