Hochul talks to reporters following tour of VBMC’s new pavilion under construction
POUGHKEEPSIE – Touting an unemployment rate in Dutchess County that has dropped 5 percent since Governor Cuomo took office, Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul came to Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie to view the ongoing construction and learn about current job openings at Health Quest, the parent company of Vassar Brothers.
The Lt. Governor, along with State Senator Sue Serino and Assemblyman Frank Skartados learned that there are currently 300 or so job openings in the Health Quest organization and, as the hospital expands, more will become available.
Hochul indicated that the low unemployment rate might make it difficult for the jobs to get filled by current residents but she plans to meet with the senator and assemblyman to see if they can work to recruit employees from outside of the area to relocate to the Hudson Valley to take advantage of the job growth.
“It will create jobs but also offer the people of the Hudson Valley are first rate, world-class health care in this facility when it opens in 2 ½ years so I wanted to come personally and see how our taxpayer dollars are being spent,” she said.
Hochul was greeted at the Patient Pavilion Prototype Experience on the Vassar campus to get a firsthand look at what the new $500 million expansion will look like upon completion. Hochul and other dignitaries toured the prototype, which is open for tours on Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., to see what the patient rooms, critical care units, and nursing stations will look like. Upon viewing the spacious patient rooms, the Lt. Governor turned to her staff and said, “if anything happens to me, bring me here” to which Health Quest Senior Vice-President Tim Massie said “take me to Vassar” invoking the catchphrase that was coined by hospital President Ann McMackin.
The 696,000 square foot construction project, which broke ground a few months ago is scheduled to be operational in 2018 and is being funded entirely by Health Quest except for $3.7 million in grants that have been received from the state.
