Cornwall campus to get more services
but will lose ER
NEWBURGH – St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital announced on Tuesday it will expand its non-emergency services at the Cornwall campus while consolidating its emergency services to its Newburgh facilities.
Officials said as they continue to “right-size” care delivery. The Cornwall campus will expand access to physician practices. The hospital’s Littman Cancer Center and oncology services will be enhanced to strengthen its breast cancer care center’s capabilities and will build off Montefiore’s cancer care and research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. SLCH and Albert Einstein College are both members of the Montefiore Health System.
SLCH will also be enhancing its rehabilitation programs in coordination with Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, also a member of the Montefiore system. That plan includes expansion of physical medicine outpatient services, including cardiac, pulmonary, physical, occupational and speech therapy.
Hospital officials said the vision of St. Luke’s Cornwall is based on input from community members, elected officials and market analysis.
On January 12, 2017 at 7 a.m., the Cornwall ER will close. It has been averaging fewer than two patients per hour.
The hospital promised expanded emergency services at the Newburgh campus including the addition of valet parking for ER patients and visitors between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. and increasing the ED’s fast track hours which will allow for triage of less emergent cases.
“To address the concerns regarding capacity in the Newburgh emergency department, we’re adding nurses and providers; increasing the hours of fast track and initiating a process for definitive treatment at triage,” said Dr. Scot Hill, chairman and medical director of Emergency Services.
Hospital President Joan Cusack-McGuirk said the administration has had continuing dialogue with Senator William Larkin, Assemblyman James Skoufis and Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, as well as many community members. “Their input has helped to shape the vision for the future of healthcare services at SLCH,” Cusack-McGuirk said. These are “uncertain times when it comes to healthcare reform and a great deal of uncertainty exists when it comes to the sustainability of federal and state funding.” She said the hospital is “committed to paying a path to stability and look forward improving and enhancing services for the community we are privileged to serve.”
Assemblyman James Skoufis (D, Woodbury), who has been opposed to the Cornwall ER closure, said the campus is “a shell of its former self, a reflection of the harmful and seemingly endless cuts to core services over the years” and he said he remains “deeply disappointed that the hospital’s executive team continues to try and close the Cornwall Emergency Department, a service that has saved countless lives over many generations.” The lawmaker said he will urge existing urgent care providers in Cornwall, Monroe and New Windsor, to extend their hours and urge the establishment of a new urgent care facility in the Town of Highlands.
Skoufis said he would also coordinate “with fellow policymakers and local ambulance companies to allow patients to be transported to local urgent cares in non-emergency situations rather than face a longer trip to Middletown or Newburgh ER.”
