Peconic Bay Medical Center Expansion a 'Boon' to Riverhead Businesses

After years of stagnation, the healthcare industry is finally beginning to show signs of growing on the East End, highlighted by a recent announcement that Peconic Bay Medical Center (PBMC) in Riverhead will invest an eye-popping $92 million to expand emergency services and other types of medical services.

The hospital, the largest employer in the Town of Riverhead with about 1,400 employees, will also use the funds to build a new women’s and infant care unit. Peconic Bay also announced that it had hired Dr. Nifa Mehta, who had been medical director for the State University of New York Downstate Emergency Department in Brooklyn, as the chairperson of emergency medicine.

The five-year project is the largest expansion at the hospital since January 2018, when it opened the Kanas Regional Heart Center and the Corey Critical Care Pavilion. Peconic Bay’s expansion is likely to serve as a boon to Riverhead businesses, Connie Lassandro, president of the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce, told Dan’s Papers.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” Lassandro said. “They are the biggest employer in Riverhead, and they will have a great impact on the community with this expansion.”

Existing business stand to profit as Peconic Bay hires more medical staff and other personnel, and other stores and companies might be expected to open as well.

Additionally, she said the medical people who are hired will need housing, so the town may see more residential development.

“These are the kind of people we want to attract,” Lassandro said. Medical and administrative staff tend to be high wage earners.

Peconic Bay said that it will be adding 6,600 square feet to its emergency department under the expansion plan. It will increase bed capacity, as well as establishing the aforementioned Center for Women and Infants.

The hospital said that the focal point of the expansion is the development of the emergency department, to be named the Poole Family Trauma and Emergency Center, to honor the philanthropists Thomas and Mary Jane Poole, who made a $5 million contribution to the expansion effort.

Peconic Bay said the expansion will increase the emergency department’s capacity by 75% and will offer a dual-bay trauma unit, additional cardiac response technology and comprehensive radiology capabilities.

Eastern Long Island is not exactly awash in medical facilities. Aside from Peconic Bay, it is home to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport.

The expansion comes at a propitious time for the area. The population in Riverhead has increased 7% and has risen 8% in Southold, according to census data from 2010 to 2020.

Peconic Bay became part of the vast Northwell Health system in 2016.

“With this investment, PBMC will extend access to healthcare for residents throughout Eastern Suffolk and further eliminate any barriers that once stood in the way,” Michael Dowling, president and chief executive of Northwell, said in a statement.

In an interview with Dan’s Papers, Mehta said that her department, which employs about 20 staffers, has already hired four more physicians. She said more hirings are planned for the near future.

“Since we became a part of Northwell, we have been able to provide care for more residents of the East End,” Mehta said. “This is going to be a big help to heart and stroke patients.”

“They (Northwell and Peconic Bay) are putting their money where their mouth is,” she added.

The expansion will benefit both patients and visitors, Mehta said. “In the past, when you called an ambulance, you sometimes had to be taken 40 minutes away. There is now a growing elderly and migrant population (on the East End). This will make getting to a hospital a lot quicker and people will be able to visit more easily. It makes a big difference when you’re 40 minutes away.”

Learn more at pbmchealth.org.