SCHENECTADY Golubs praised as Ellis expansion starts BY BETHANY BUMP Gazette Reporter
Ellis Medicine broke ground on a massive expansion of its emergency room Friday, but before officials took hold of their shiny shovels adorned with ribbons they lavished thanks onto the people who made it happen. The list was long. Hospital administrators, doctors, nurses, elected representatives, city leaders and county offi cials were all praised for their help. But it was Jane and Neil Golub who received a standing ovation. The husband-wife philanthropy team not only helped finance part of the nearly $61 million project, but also sparked ideas for it from the very beginning. “Their vision and support for this facility and for Ellis over the years has really been inspiring for us all,” said Ellis Medicine President and CEO James Connolly before a crowd of more than 100 gathered on the hospital’s Nott Street campus Friday. The Golub Center for Emergency Care will be a state-of-the-art facility designed to accommodate 90,000 visits a year. It doubles the size of the current center to 38,000 square feet, and will include 60 private rooms that are fully equipped with cardiac monitoring gear and fl at-screen TVs. The extra space and new layout will improve care in a few ways: it puts doctors and nurses in closer proximity to patient rooms, enhances privacy, minimizes wait time, and accommodates more ambulances. Crews will also construct a new two-deck parking garage where the current ER parking lot is located, increasing parking from 118 to 212 spaces. The Friday groundbreaking event marked the last major step in restructuring recommended by the Berger Commission and mandated by the state in 2007. Slated for completion in 2015, the project will consolidate two emergency departments that last year handled a combined 85,000 visits. The hospital’s ER facility on Mc-Clellan Street will be converted into an urgent care center. “This plan will allow us to deliver the right services in the right location at the right time, and enhance care through improved patient fl ow and privacy,” said Connolly. The state-mandated restructuring resulted in a succession of health care overhauls in Schenectady County. Across the state, hospitals and nursing homes were told to cut excess beds, eliminate duplication of services, modernize facilities, and provide more primary and preventive care. Ellis Medicine led the way locally in implementing these changes. Three hospitals were unified under the umbrella of Ellis Medicine, which consolidated all of its maternity inpatient care at Bellevue Woman’s Center, relocated its nursing home and outpatient services to the former St. Clare’s Hospital on McClellan Street, created a medical home and joined the Visiting Nurse Service of Schenectady and Saratoga Counties to execute one of the state’s very first Health Homes. It will open the Medical Center of Clifton Park at the end of this month, expanding Ellis’ reach into southern Saratoga County with a new emergency care facility and other services. And at the start of next year, it will open a new and expanded Bellevue Woman’s Center in Niskayuna. “This has been a real model of how we would like the rest of the state to look,” state Department of Health Commissioner Nirav Shah said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “Ellis will be used as an example for other consolidations and reconfi gurations.” Assemblyman Jim Tedisco praised the Golubs for helping with several of these changes and providing a sense of security for the region. State Assemblyman George Amedore, R-Rotterdam, was also on hand, and praised hospital officials for facing head-on the “tough challenge” presented by the Berger recommendations. ...............................>>>>........................>>>>.....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01302&AppName=1
"Three hospitals were unified under the umbrella of Ellis Medicine, which consolidated all of its maternity inpatient care at Bellevue Woman’s Center, relocated its nursing home and outpatient services to the former St. Clare’s Hospital on McClellan Street, created a medical home and joined the Visiting Nurse Service of Schenectady and Saratoga Counties to execute one of the state’s very first Health Homes. "
This outsourcing and new expansion will give Ellis enough space to make the Nott location dedicated to the services the City has the most need for: gunshot and stabbing victims. Forget the new tv's - get more gauze.
This outsourcing and new expansion will give Ellis enough space to make the Nott location dedicated to the services the City has the most need for: gunshot and stabbing victims. Forget the new tv's - get more gauze.
Great news! Another eyesore parking lot and nonstop sirens to destroy the only decent neighborhood left in the City. St Claires should have been made the unified ER. A nonstop construction site while a perfect good ER sits underutilized CLOSER to Ham Hill.
Was talking to some folks who work at ellis. THEY will not even go to Ellis. Their choice is st. peters. They said that ellis is NOT equipped and is why almost all emergency visits are sent to albany med.
They all laughed when they first heard of this ER expansion. They said that the ellis er transfers most of their patients to albanymed and this large er isn't needed!!
Should have kept st. clares.....PERIOD!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Keeping an ER at St Claires is too costly. Admission have to be transfered by ambulance which just adds to the cost. Most trauma cases are sent to Albany Med, more serious Pediatric cases and than a handful of other specialty cases, butmost are not sent to other hospitals. Some specialties just aren't worth the cost of operations. Why do trauma when Albany Med is so good at it...and when the people Ellis would get would be self pay and Medicaid. Ellis is great at cardiaccare, stroke care, GI care and solid for most other care. I think the Ellis employees who don't want to go there are suffering from "not wanting to see how the sausage is made" syndrome. None of the hospital workers I know want to go the hospital they work at.
Going to Ellis during a health crisis is a major mistake that could very well cost you your life. After any major event such as a heart attack, auto accident etc, there is what is called "the golden hour". What happens during that hour will often determine whether you live or die.
Case in point. There was a kid hit by a car on Balltown Rd. Figure 5 to 10 minutes for the ambulance to arrive at the scene. Another 10 to 12 minutes to get to Ellis. Another 10 to 30 minutes at Ellis when they finally throw up their hands, and call the helicopter.
By the time the helicopter even gets there, that hour is gone. The kid died en route to AMC.
I live in The Balltown Rd area, and go to Albany Med regularly. It takes me about 18 minutes, driving normally, through normal traffic.
If you ever have a health crisis, ALWAYS opt to go to Albany Med first.
Tommy, I really dont think that is fair. Ellis has a very good cardiac program and has excellent door to ballon times. The EMTs in the area can send information right to the hospital during transport and the cardiac team is ready when the patient gets there...it really is a very good program.
Pediatric trauma...yeah, not the place to go. The best they can do is maybe stabilize someone enough for transport...but they're not a trauma center and don't try to be. There aren't enough traumas in this area to make it financially worth having multiple trauma centers with 20 minutes of each other. There are only 40 in the entire state so to expect two in this populace is unrealistic.
Going to Ellis during a health crisis is a major mistake that could very well cost you your life.After any major event such as a heart attack, auto accident etc, there is what is called "the golden hour".
What happens during that hour will often determine whether you live or die.
Case in point. There was a kid hit by a car on Balltown Rd. Figure 5 to 10 minutes for the ambulance to arrive at the scene. Another 10 to 12 minutes to get to Ellis. Another 10 to 30 minutes at Ellis when they finally throw up their hands, and call the helicopter.
By the time the helicopter even gets there, that hour is gone. The kid died en route to AMC.
I live in The Balltown Rd area, and go to Albany Med regularly. It takes me about 18 minutes, driving normally, through normal traffic.
If you ever have a health crisis, ALWAYS opt to go to Albany Med first.
Remember the old days where if you or a loved one had to be transported to a hospital the ambulance staff would ask "Ellis or St. Clares?"
The answer was most likely St. Clares.
With all the grants poured into Ellis, it's still not worth its weight in the amount of money being spent on it.
Ellis is a very good hospital and this expansion will only allow it to provide even better service.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
Remember the old days where if you or a loved one had to be transported to a hospital the ambulance staff would ask "Ellis or St. Clares?"
The answer was most likely St. Clares.
With all the grants poured into Ellis, it's still not worth its weight in the amount of money being spent on it.
You are correct..............the answer was ALWAY st. clares! Nobody liked Ellis then.............and still don't. Even their employees are opting for st. peters! THAT IS THE REALITY.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
"Proctors sucks... The Gazette sucks... A new business in downtown sucks... Ellis Sucks..."
Reading this board is truly amazing!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Let me upload a copy of my property and school tax bills and you'll know why the City truly sucks. When you pay for gold and get sh*t, you'd be bitter too. All these 'new' businesses (three people) and expansions just create more aof a tax burden to the City propertry owners. BTW, isn't this the 10th year in a row "Wicked" has come to Proctors?!?! That's original.
The year that I went to see "Wicked" at Proctors, they were sold out for all performances. If they keep selling out... why not keep showing such a popular show?
The taxpayers may have gotten screwed with the original Proctors deal with the city. BUT... Do you think that the Schdy Taxpayers would be better off NOW if Proctors were to close tomorrow? Would Schdy Taxpayers be better off if Ellis Hospital closed tomorrow? Would the city Taxpayers be better off with out the Daily Gazette? Would the city Taxpayers be better off if the new business in downtown had gone to another city?
Once again... NOTHING GOOD EVER HAPPENS IN SCHENECTADY. If something good were to occur in Schenectady, the residents would immediately end it.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
St. Clare's was a good hospital MANY YEARS AGO. Unfortunately, it was not a very good hospital during the last years of its existence.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson