Vassar Brothers’ Message of Growth for Community

Vassar Brothers Medical Center President Kerry Eaton, center, stands with some of the important community members she highlighted during her presentation. Butch Dener, second from left, had a heart attack on his front porch and was taken by EMS to Vassar Brothers Medical Center where life-saving surgery was performed. His wife, Barbara, left, called EMS when he experienced chest pains on their front porch. Patrick Dinan, right, works in environmental services at the medical center. Eaton cited Dinan’s compassion and service when she saw him help an elderly visitor to the hospital find her way.
Vassar Brothers Medical Center President Kerry Eaton, center, stands with some of the important community members she highlighted during her presentation. Butch Dener, second from left, had a heart attack on his front porch and was taken by EMS to Vassar Brothers Medical Center where life-saving surgery was performed. His wife, Barbara, left, called EMS when he experienced chest pains on their front porch. Patrick Dinan, right, works in environmental services at the medical center. Eaton cited Dinan’s compassion and service when she saw him help an elderly visitor to the hospital find her way.

POUGHKEEPSIE – Vassar Brothers Medical Center will add medical residency programs this summer while continuing to enhance services and programs that enable people to stay close to home for healthcare. Meanwhile, the medical center’s new patient pavilion construction is in its final year and planning is well underway for the new Marist Health Quest School of Medicine.

That was the message to more than 200 business, civic and community members, donors and residents, who attended the 14th annual State of the Medical Center Community Breakfast on Thursday, May 30, at The Grandview in the City of Poughkeepsie.

“We understand the important role we play as your caregivers and as your neighbors. Our continuing investment in this region shows we strongly believe in the future of Poughkeepsie and the greater Hudson Valley,” Vassar Brothers Medical Center President Kerry Eaton said.
With most of the exterior of the patient pavilion complete, the focus will turn to finishing the interior of the eight-level building. The structure, which includes 264 private patient rooms, an emergency and trauma center with 66 treatment bays, and new operating rooms, is scheduled to open in 2020.

Eaton’s presentation highlighted Vassar Brothers’ continued growth in 2018:
* Vassar Brothers generated $922 million in economic activity in 2018.

* Vassar Brothers discharged 23,659 patients in 2018, a 17 percent increase in five years.

* Vassar Brothers employs nearly 2,200 workers and is the largest private employer in the City of Poughkeepsie. Of those, more than 900 are nurses.

* People are also choosing to come to the Emergency Department. The medical center had nearly 75,894 visits in 2018, an 11.9 percent increase in five years.

While serving its role as a leading nonprofit in the region, Vassar Brothers has added new medical services and enhanced the level of care in the community. For example:

* Vassar Brothers has begun a Movement Disorders Program. With the addition of neurologists Dr. Michael Rezak and Dr. Jennifer Pallone, a team approach is the cornerstone of the comprehensive program where advanced diagnostic tools, and medical and surgical treatment options are available for movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and many others.

* The medical center continues to enhance its neurosciences program with the addition of neurologist Dr. Paul Wright, assistant vice president of the Division of Neurosciences, and Dr. Avi Setton, medical director of Neurointerventional Surgery. Their teams at Vassar treat the full spectrum of neurological disorders, from lifesaving emergency stroke treatment, to brain and spine tumors including comprehensive neuro-rehab services.

* Two medical residency programs will start at Vassar Brothers in July. Twenty-eight new doctors specializing in internal medicine and surgery will be based at Vassar Brothers Medical Center. A third program, family medicine, will be based at Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck. More specialties will be added in the coming years, including psychiatry, obstetrics-gynecology and orthopedics.

In April, Vassar Brothers Medical Center’s parent organization, Health Quest, announced it had combined with Western Connecticut Health Network to form a new system to be called Nuvance Health. The combined system covers 1.5 million residents across the two states and includes seven hospitals, 2,600 aligned physicians and more than 12,000 employees.

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