POUGHKEEPSIE – It is being billed as the largest capital investment in Dutchess County history – $500 million dollars – and ground was broken on Tuesday for the new 696,000-square foot patient pavilion at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie.
A host of dignitaries from the hospital, parent company Health Quest and elected officials joined in the celebration.
Construction is underway and should take about a year and a half to complete
The project is “a symbol of the renewed economic growth in Dutchess County and the Mid-Hudson Valley and of the renaissance happening before our eyes in the City of Poughkeepsie,” said hospital President Ann McMackin.
Robert Friedberg, president of parent company Health Quest, said the
facilities will breathe new life into Poughkeepsie.
“This is truly a regeneration of a community. It is a focal piece of a generational vision of how private enterprise with community involvement engages in substantial change,” Friedberg said.
Mayor Robert Rolison said the new hospital will continue to provide the best healthcare to residents.
“Why should you go someplace else when you can go here? Why would you travel north, east or south to get healthcare that we can get right here in the City of Poughkeepsie and how this not only transforms that, but it transforms this whole neighborhood around this campus,” Rolison said.
Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro said the new hospital will have significant positive impacts on the entire area.
“Do not for a moment underestimate the impact this project will have, not only in healthcare on the Hudson, but in healthcare in general,” said Moliniaro. “This project will redefine and the delivery of healthcare in this community, will do so in the Hudson Valley and will redefine and usher in the next chapter of healthcare in the State of New York.”
The design of the building follows the slow-moving cure of neighboring Hudson River and will include a spacious lobby, an emergency department and trauma center with 66 treatment rooms, state-of-the-art operating suites, a 30-bed critical care unit, 264 private patient rooms, a rooftop helipad, a 300-seat conference center and café.
The facility is expected to be open for patient care in early 2019.
