Peconic Bay Medical Center is asking the Town of Riverhead to approve modifications to the design of its current expansion.
PBMC needs to add additional ambulance bays to accommodate the increased number of ambulances bringing patients to the Riverhead hospital since its designation as a level-three trauma center and the opening of a cardiac catheterization lab this year, PBMC president and CEO Andrew Mitchell told Riverhead Town Board members at their work session yesterday.
Previously all trauma patients and patients in need of cardiac cath services had to be rushed to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in East Patchogue or Stony Brook University Hospital. Now, many of the trauma patients and patients with clogged cardiac arteries requiring stents can be treated at PBMC, Mitchell said. More ambulances are coming to the hospital as a result.
The new design relocates the ambulance bay area and doubles its capacity from two to four, Mitchell said.
Since the cardiac cath lab opened in October, cardiologists have treated 100 patients and saved five lives, he said.
Other design changes were required to better align the new addition with the existing elevation of the hospital’s original structure, built more than 60 years ago. The hospital seeks to reduce the height of the new tower by two-and-a-half feet and the height of the helipad, which is also relocated, by two feet in order to better align the new construction with the existing structure.
Supervisor Sean Walter said the board would consider the changes “de minimis” which can be approved without a new public hearing on the modified site plan.
Board members agreed to take up a resolution approving the revisions at the board’s upcoming regular meetin on Tuesday night.
PBMC merged with the Northwell Health System in January 2016. Northwell is building a $60 million expansion and upgrade that will add a critical care tower to accommodate the new cardiac care facilities and an expanded emergency department. The new facilities will also include a cardiac electrophysiology lab and a rooftop helipad.
The Town of Riverhead approved the hospital’s site plan for the expansion in February. PBMC broke ground on the new construction this summer.
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